The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago will host a conference, Financial Literacy, Financial Education, and the Federal Reserve: Strategies for Success, on September 11, 2009. This article reviews some of the financial education activities throughout the Federal Reserve System.

On December 9–10, 2009, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago hosted a conference on mortgage foreclosure policy with the help of the Chicago Community Trust, Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago, the MacArthur Foundation, and the Woodstock Institute.

The roughly 9.5 percent of all U.S. families that are without some type of transaction account (unbanked) are disproportionately represented by minorities. The unbanked often must rely on alternative ways to carry out basic financial transactions such as cashing payroll checks and paying bills....

On November 15-16, 2007, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago's Economic Research Department and Consumer and Community Affairs Division, along with the W. E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, will cosponsor a conference to present research on policies, practices, and initiatives...

A notable feature of immigration into the U.S. is the high degree of spatial concentration of different immigrant groups. We ask the question whether residing in areas with a large proportion of a co-ethnic group influence the decision to own a home for Hispanics in the Chicago Metropolitan...

This study investigates whether Hispanic immigrants assimilate in occupational status with natives and the factors that determine occupational status. A theoretical framework is proposed that models occupational status and convergence of Hispanics relative to U.S.-born non-Hispanics as a...

Previous study by Card and Lewis (2005) has found (puzzling) that inflows of Mexican immigrants into “new” metropolitan areas have had no effect on the relative wages of very low-skill (high school dropouts). Rather, Mexican workers do affect relative wages for high school graduates. Whereas...

A critical challenge faced by educators, community leaders and policy makers is to bring financial literacy and consumer education effectively to their constituencies. Based on the qualitative evidence gleaned from focus groups, we take a pragmatic approach in proposing ways to deliver financial...

This article identifies the factors that influence the self- employment decision for U.S. immigrants, including human capital, years in the U.S., geographic concentration, and labor market characteristics.