The Impacts of IDA Programs on Family Savings and Asset-Holdings

Publication Date

February 2001

Author(s)

Michael A. Stegman, Oswaldo Urdapilleta Gonzalez, Robert Faris

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Researchers assess the financial impact of a national Individual Development Account (IDA) pilot, Downpayment on the American Dream Demonstration, and the net savings and assets of program participants.

This paper supplements the growing body of research on the national Individual Development Account (IDA) pilot known as the Downpayment on the American Dream Demonstration (ADD). Its subject is the financial impact of ADD on the net savings and assets of program participants, and it attempts to answer the questions, what would ADD participants have saved had they not joined an IDA program?

To address this question, we develop statistical analysis using the Survey of Consumer Finance, which suggests that IDA’s have a small but significant positive impact on net savings.