Using data from the 2000 Health and Retirement Study (HRS), this study examined the probability of older Americans holding consumer and mortgage debt. The specific objectives of this study were to identify to what extent individuals aged 65 and over hold consumer or mortgage debt and to...

The effects of having a child with asthma on the employment status and the continuity of full-time employment of mothers were investigated using data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. Mothers who had a child with asthma were less likely to be employed full-time or part-time, and if...

This is the first study to follow a group of refugees (N = 647) for 10 years to identify how they acquired and used credit cards, a novel product to them. Acculturation to Canadian credit card use occurred; there was a dramatic increase in having cards (from 4% to 77%). The main reason...

This paper analyzes the effects of counseling provided to borrowers in mortgage default (n = 299). Borrowers receiving more hours of counseling perceive counseling more favorably than those receiving fewer hours of counseling. Using measures of marketing efforts to instrument counseling time...

Small business prosperity doesn’t necessarily translate into family prosperity. This study utilizes the first and second waves of the National Family Business Survey to explore the influence of changes in key business financial measures on objective and subjective measures of family success....

This study of middle-class American families draws on ethnography and urban economic history, focusing on patterns of leisure time and household consumption and clutter. We trace how residential life evolved historically from cramped urban quarters into contemporary middle-class residences and...

Whereas existing indicators of standards of living neglect the dependence of individual well-being on other people’s welfare, this paper aims at constructing an income-based indicator taking welfare interdependencies into account. For that purpose, an extension of Usher’s longevity-adjusted...

This study investigates the impact of personal finance education delivered in high school and college. Outcomes of interest were investment knowledge and household savings rates measured years after the financial education was delivered. A web-based survey with questions about participation in...