Building assets from birth: a global comparison of Child Development Account policies

Abstract

Asset building is a growing theme in public policy, and building assets from birth in the form of Child Development Accounts is now occurring in several countries. This article provides an overview of the Child Development Account policies in Singapore, Canada, the UK and Korea, and the proposed policy in the USA. The key elements of inclusiveness, progressivity, coherence and integration, and development are explicated and discussed.

Predicting Savings for White and Black Young Adults: An Early Look at Racial Disparities in Savings and the Potential Role of Children’s Development Accounts (CDAs)

“…Several countries have undertaken nationwide, government initiatives to encourage young people's savings, including Canada's Education Savings Grant (CESG), Singapore's Baby Bonus, EduSave, and Post-Secondary Education Account programs, the United Kingdom's Child Trust Fund (CTF), and Malaysia's Young Savers Club (YSC; Loke and Sherraden 2009;Masa 2009). For instance, over 4 million young people participated in the United Kingdom's Child Trust Fund (CTF) since 2005.…”

Toward a Children’s Savings and College-Bound Identity Intervention for Raising College Attendance Rates: A Multilevel Propensity Score Analysis

“…IBM suggests that when an image of the self feels tied to ideas about relevant social groups (such as, friends, classmates, family and cultural groups), the congruent personal identity becomes reinforced. As Loke and Sherraden (2009) suggest, CDAs may have a multiplier effect by engaging the larger family in the asset-accumulation process. A way that this may happen in CDAs is by allowing parents to make voluntary after-tax contributions into children's accounts.…”

Reforming child institutional care in the Post-Soviet bloc: The potential role of family-based empowerment strategies

“…Among the countries that already have some form of national CDA policy are Singapore, the UK, South Korea, Taiwan and Canada (Han, 2013;Loke & Sherraden, 2009;Zou et al, 2013). In South Korea, a national CDA program specifically targets children in the child welfare system (children living in institutions, foster care or group homes) and provides an automatic opening of a savings bank account, 1:1 matched savings up to $30 a month, a separate fund savings account that allows withdrawal after the age of 18 for specific expenses that contribute to human development (e.g.…”

“…Asset-based development, as an alternative approach to economic empowerment of low-income families, is receiving considerable attention in developed nations such as the US, the UK, Canada, Singapore, Hong Kong and South Korea (Loke & Sherraden, 2009;Mathie & Cunningham, 2003;Sherraden, McBride, & Beverly, 2010;Williams Shanks et al, 2010) as well as developing countries such as Kenya, Uganda, Puerto Rico and India (Gugerty, 2007;Marxuach, 2010;Ssewamala, Sperber, Zimmerman, & Karimli, 2010;Ssewamala, Wang, Karimli, & Nabunya, 2011). However, these programs have not been implemented in transitional countries of the fSU.…”