scholarly journals Municipal OPEB Contributions: The Roles of Governance Structure, Fiscal, and Socioeconomic Factors During and After the Great Recession

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. Eger ◽  
Laurence E Johnson ◽  
Suzanne Lowensohn ◽  
Alan K Styles
Keyword(s):  
Socioeconomic Factors ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Governance Structure ◽  
Time Span ◽  
Fiscal Year ◽  
Discount Rates ◽  
Structure Form ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
Form Of Government

Many governments offer other postemployment benefits (OPEB) to their employees, and discretionary contributions to OPEB plans are important to plan financial well-being. This paper reports a study of municipalities' actual annual contributions to their OPEB plans from fiscal year 2008 through 2015, a time span encompassing the Great Recession and subsequent gradual recovery. Giving effect to cities' governance structure (form of organization and extent of employee unionization) and certain fiscal and socioeconomic variables, we estimate a model of plan contributions normalized by the related actuarially required contributions. We find that Mayor-Council (MC) cities are associated with comparatively higher OPEB plan contributions relative to Council-Manager cities. We control for MC cities' discount rates to address the consequences of optimistic rate assumptions. The effect of unionization on contributions is evident directly, but unionization is not noteworthy when conditioned on form of government. This suggests that MC cities manage their OPEB plans in a fiscally accountable manner.

Recent Trends in the Material Well-Being of the Working Class in America

2021 ◽  
Vol 695 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-91
Author(s):  
James P. Ziliak
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
Food Insecurity ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
Insurance Coverage ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Absolute Poverty ◽  
Earnings Growth ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
Recent Trends ◽  
Using Data

I examine trends in the material well-being of working-class households using data from the Current Population Survey in the two decades surrounding the Great Recession. In the years leading up to the Great Recession, average earnings, homeownership, and insurance coverage all fell, and absolute poverty and food insecurity accelerated. After-tax incomes were, for the most part, stagnant. The economic hemorrhaging either abated or reversed, however, in the decade after the Great Recession, especially for the least skilled and for households headed by a Hispanic person. This includes robust earnings growth, which led to declines in earnings inequality, absolute poverty, and food insecurity, coupled with increased insurance coverage and a modest rebound in after-tax incomes. As many of these recent advances likely stalled with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, I discuss various policy options.

scholarly journals Well-being and the Great Recession in Spain

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (15) ◽  
pp. 1279-1284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jesús Peiró-Palomino ◽  
Francesco Perugini ◽  
Andrés J Picazo-Tadeo
Keyword(s):  
Great Recession ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Great Recession

“Wouldn’t You Walk Away?” Foreclosures and Homeowner Understandings

2018 ◽  
Vol 100 (2) ◽  
pp. 174-187
Author(s):  
Carol L. Cleaveland ◽  
Debra Lattanzi Shutika
Keyword(s):  
Great Recession ◽  
Ground Level ◽  
Well Being ◽  
High Rate ◽  
Subprime Mortgage ◽  
Dominant Ideology ◽  
House Values ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
Mortgage Crisis ◽  
Economic Collapse

Social work scholarship on neoliberalism—the dominant ideology and policies shaping access to housing, jobs, healthcare, and education—is in its infancy. This study examines the ground-level impact of the subprime mortgage crisis that triggered the Great Recession in 2008, examining how homeowners interpreted the changes to their neighborhood as they witnessed a remarkably high rate of foreclosures during the economic collapse of 2008-2010. Residents of a suburban community were unaware of the lending and banking practices that transformed their neighborhoods, though these policies arguably depreciated house values and a sense of well-being. Not knowing the culpability of predatory lenders in the crisis, some residents turned to an anti-immigrant social movement to preserve their community.

Grandparent Coresidence and Family Well-Being

2014 ◽  
Vol 654 (1) ◽  
pp. 110-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel E. Dunifon ◽  
Kathleen M. Ziol-Guest ◽  
Kimberly Kopko
Keyword(s):  
Marital Status ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
Living Arrangements ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
The Family ◽  
New Research ◽  
Economic Well Being

U.S. children today have increasingly diverse living arrangements. In 2012, 10 percent of children lived with at least one grandparent; 8 percent lived in three-generational households, consisting of a parent and a grandparent; while 2 percent lived with a grandparent and no parent in the household. This article reviews the literature on grandparent coresidence and presents new research on children coresiding with grandparents in modern families. Findings suggest that grandparent coresidence is quite common and that its prevalence increased during the Great Recession. Additionally, these living arrangements are diverse themselves, varying by the marital status of the parent, the home in which the family lives, and the economic well-being of the family. Suggestions for future research are also proposed.

UK Unemployment in the Great Recession

2010 ◽  
Vol 214 ◽  
pp. R3-R25 ◽  
Author(s):  
David N.F. Bell ◽  
David G. Blanchflower
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
Sharp Increase ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
Financial Difficulties ◽  
Small Rise ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
The Unemployed

This paper considers some of the implications of the increase in UK unemployment since the beginning of the Great Recession. The major finding is that the sharp increase in unemployment and decrease in employment is largely concentrated on the young. This has occurred at a time when the size of the youth cohort is large. As a response to a lack of jobs there has been a substantial increase in applications to university, although there has only been a small rise in the number of places available. Further we find evidence that the unemployed have particularly low levels of well-being, are depressed, have low levels of life satisfaction, have difficulties paying their bills and are especially likely to be in financial difficulties.

The Relationship Between Credit Card Use Behavior and Household Well-Being During the Great Recession: Implications for the Ethics of Credit Use

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-224 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer L. Hunter ◽  
Claudia J. Heath
Keyword(s):  
Great Recession ◽  
Credit Card ◽  
Multinomial Logistic Regression ◽  
Economic Recession ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
Financial Condition ◽  
Use Behavior ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Credit Card Use

This article uses a random digit dial probability sample (N = 328) to examine the relationship between credit card use behaviors and household well-being during a period of severe economic recession: The Great Recession. The ability to measure the role of credit card use during a period of recession provides unique insights to the study of credit behavior because of the knowledge that all respondents have the same macroeconomic constraint. Framed by the assumptions of the permanent income hypothesis and the life-cycle savings hypothesis, multinomial logistic regression was used to estimate the relationship between credit card use behaviors and three measures of household well-being: emotional well-being, financial well-being, and general household financial condition.

scholarly journals Policies to Help the Working Class in the Aftermath of COVID-19: Lessons from the Great Recession

2021 ◽  
Vol 695 (1) ◽  
pp. 314-330
Author(s):  
Richard V. Burkhauser ◽  
Kevin Corinth ◽  
Douglas Holtz-Eakin
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
Great Recession ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Safety Net ◽  
Social Safety Net ◽  
Slow Recovery ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
Earnings Losses ◽  
Persistent Unemployment ◽  
Economic Well Being

The COVID-19 pandemic and the associated government-mandated shutdowns caused a historic shock to the U.S. economy and a disproportionate job loss concentrated among the working class. While an unprecedented social safety net policy response successfully offset earnings losses among lower-wage workers, the risk of continued and persistent unemployment remains higher among the working class. The key lesson from the Great Recession is that strong economic growth and a hot labor market do more to improve the economic well-being of the working class and historically disadvantaged groups than a slow recovery that relies on safety net policies to help replace lost earnings. Thus, the best way to prevent a “k-shaped” recovery is to ensure that safety net policies do not interfere with a return to the strong pre-pandemic economy once the health risk subsides and that progrowth policies that incentivize business investment and hiring are maintained.

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