Abstract

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.