Financial Inclusion

Pew has a fascinating new report out on payday lending with valuable accompanying infographics and interactive tools. The report,Who Borrows, Where They Borrow, and Why, looks at the demographics, motivations, and financial needs of the estimated 12 million payday loan borrowers who spend a combined $7.4 billion annually on payday loans.

An interactive map of the U.S. shows the state by state regulatory framework for payday lending.

MSNBC's NBC News' show "The Cycle" is doing feature spots this week on The Washington Monthly's special, assets-themed issue.

Over the course of the last two decades, a community of academics, policy wonks, and practitioners has been busy developing and testing ideas for helping ordinary people to save more and build their assets. Here are a few of the signature proposals of what has come to be known as the asset-building movement.

As Justin King mentioned earlier this week, John Gravois, Editor of the Washington Monthly, has a great in-depth piece out in this month's issue looking at the rise of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The full article is well-worth checking out, but if you're more of an auditory learner, watch this interview Reid Cramer did with Gravois here at New America.

Today, Boston University's Center for Finance, Law & Policy announced that it will assume responsibility for the Global Financial Inclusion Guide. Formerly known as the Financial Inclusion Regulation Center run by CGAP, the Guide is now the only centralized database of banking laws and regulations for developing countries.

Our event this coming Wednesday will highlight a number of articles from the forthcoming, special issue of The Washington Monthly. Unfortunately, we won't be able to highlight one of the best articles in the bunch (as the author is out of town).

Wednesday July 11^th, the Asset Building Program will be hosting an event focused on the special July/August issue of the Washington Monthly. "The Future of Success" takes a look at current economic conditions, how we got here, the impact of the recession on the wealth of American families, and how we might get out. The editors and writers of the Monthly have taken the asset building perspective to heart and decided that it is a critical tool for restoring the American Dream. The event will feature two panels, one comprised of contributors to the issue, the other of expert commentators on the issues at hand.

One of the most successful tools in the fight against poverty, one that has attracted increasing attention over the past decade, is social protection via cash transfers. In fact, the New America Foundation’s Global Savings and Social Protection Database – which focuses on Latin America, Africa, East and Asia – has identified over 90 cash-transfer programs in 45 countries, with over a half billion beneficiaries. As the Chronic Poverty Research Centre puts it, “social protection is critical in preventing descent into chronic poverty and reducing the depth of poverty...

The Asset Building News Week is a weekly Friday feature on The Ladder, the Asset Building Program blog, designed to help readers keep up with news and developments in the asset building field. This week's topics include anti-poverty initiatives, access to financial services, and inequality.

Recently the Assets and Education Initiative (AEDI) at the University of Kansas’s School of Social Welfare released a working paper, “It Is Not Just Families; Institutions Play a Role in Reducing Wealth Inequality: Long Term Effects of Youth Savings Accounts on Adult Saving Behaviors” by William Elliott, Graham Rifenbark, Paul Webley, Terri Friedline, and Ilsung Nam.