NCCPs Family Resource Simulator

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NCCPs Family Resource Simulator

• Nancy K. Cauthen, PhD
• Director of Research and Policy Analysis
• National Association of Welfare Research and
  Statistics, Annual Workshop
• August 24, 2004

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National Center for Children in Poverty

• Using the Family Resource Simulator to Assess How
  Well State Policies Support Work
• Nancy K. Cauthen and Kinsey Alden Dinan
• This project has been generously funded by the
  Annie E. Casey Foundation.

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National Center for Children in Poverty

• Who We Are
• NCCP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research and
  policy organization at Columbia University.

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National Center for Children in Poverty

• What We Provide
• Original policy-relevant research
• Syntheses of academic and policy research
• Tools to make research and policy data easy to use

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Family Resource Simulator

• What It Is
• A web-based tool that shows how state and federal
  policies interact and affect low- to
  moderate-income working families.
• It demonstrates the aggregate impact of state and
  federal policies on family resources and expenses
  as earnings increase.

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Family Resource Simulator

• Includes These Public Benefits
• CCDF subsidies
• Food stamps
• Public health insurance
• Section 8 housing vouchers
• TANF cash assistance

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Family Resource Simulator

• Includes These Tax Policies
• Federal, state, and local income taxes
• Federal income tax credits (EITC, child/dependent
  care credit, child tax credit)
• State and local income tax credits
• Federal payroll taxes

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Family Resource Simulator

• How It Works
• The user creates a hypothetical family by
  selecting
• city and state
• family characteristics
• sources of income
• assets

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Family Resource Simulator

• How It Works (cont.)
• The user also
• selects which public benefits the family receives
  when eligible
• makes choices about what happens when the family
  loses benefits

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Family Resource Simulator

• How the Results Can Be Used
• Calculate the resources available to families as
  earnings and public benefit receipt change.

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Boston, MASingle-Parent Family of 3Receiving
All Benefits
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Atlanta, GASingle-Parent Family of 3Receiving
All Benefits
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Family Resource Simulator

• How It Can Be Used (cont.)
• See how much families need to earn to be
  economically self sufficient.

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Philadelphia, PASingle-Parent Family of 3No
TANF, CCDF, or Section 8
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Family Resource Simulator

• How It Can Be Used (cont.)
• Determine how well state policies encourage and
  reward employment.

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Hartford, CTSingle-Parent Family of 3No
Section 8
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Hartford, CTSingle-Parent Family of 3No TANF,
CCDF, or Section 8
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Key Findings

• Patterns vary tremendously from state to state,
  and locality to locality.
• Despite the variation, public policies across
  states create some work disincentives.

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Key Findings (cont.)

• Working families with incomes above the poverty
  level but below economic self-sufficiency are
  perhaps the least well served by current
  policies.

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Family Resource Simulator

• States Currently Available at www.nccp.org
• Connecticut
• Georgia
• Pennsylvania

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Family Resource Simulator

• Additional States Available by the End of 2004
• Alabama
• Delaware
• District of Columbia
• Illinois
• Maryland
• Massachusetts
• New York

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Data Tools for Analyzing State Policies

• Find the Family Resource Simulator and Other Data
  Tools at
• www.nccp.org