Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Panel: Child Development Accounts in the Global Context: Development and Prospect

(Family and Child Policy)

There is increasing policy interest in Child Development Accounts (CDAs) in the global context. CDAs are savings or investment accounts to help children accumulate assets for postsecondary education and other long-term developmental purposes. Ideally, CDAs should be universal, progressive, and lifelong. The accounts would be universal in that every child is included in the program through automatic enrollment. The accounts would be progressive in that low- and moderate-income children receive extra subsidies. The accounts would be lifelong in that CDAs are meant to be held and used for multiple purposes throughout the life course. Over the past two decades, a growing number of local and national governments have launched CDAs as a policy tool to help children accumulate assets. Sharing some common features and dealing with unique circumstances in different context, these programs apply a variety of strategies to achieve the three policy goals discussed above. This panel will examine three CDA examples in the United States (Paper #1), Ghana (Paper #2), South Korea (Paper #4), respectively, and provide a general summary on the latest policy development in Asia (Paper #3). Findings from these programs suggest that CDAs have positive financial impacts (e.g., account holding and asset accumulation) and nonfinancial impacts (e.g., educational expectations, mother’s mental health, child development, and academic performance). The impacts are often greater for disadvantaged and at-risk children. In the global context, CDAs can be a promising policy tool to advance individual well-being and child development. The panel will also provide insights into developing, designing, and implementing CDAs in different cultural, political, and economic environments. Based on findings from these studies, the discussant will focus on the prospect of CDAs in China. Papers: 1. Paper 1: Universal Accounts at Birth: Updated Results from SEED for Oklahoma Kids 2. Paper 2: Impacts of Youth Savings Accounts on Youth Developmental Outcomes: Findings from The Ghana Youthsave Experiment 3. Paper 3: Child Development Accounts Policies in Asia: Perspectives and Lessons 4. Paper 4: A Pilot Study Examining Effects of Child Development Accounts for At-Risk Children in South Korea