Over the past few weeks, the Small Firm Diaries research team has been visiting US cities to share what we're seeing in the data so far—stopping in St. Louis, Chicago, Baltimore, Atlanta, and New York, with Oakland still ahead on May 26. These conversations have been useful in both directions: hearing where our findings on growth, credit use, and jobs resonate with local audiences, and hearing the questions and pushback that have helped us sharpen our thinking.
A caveat worth stating upfront: we're roughly halfway through the research, with data still being gathered, cleaned, and analyzed. Specific numbers may change. With that in mind, here's some of what we've been discussing.
Read MoreEditor’s Note: I hadn’t appreciated the role that normalcy plays in allowing me to be sarcastic and jokey about the various topics I write about, until, well, everything stopped being normal. Please allow me some grace as I try to find a tone that is appropriately direct and honest, and still tries to find some humor in these dark days. - Tim
Read MoreEditors’ Note: Hi, it’s Laura and Jonathan again. As a reminder, we’re taking the wheel here every other edition and Tim will be back with you in a couple weeks. One question kept surfacing as we assembled this edition. Emergency savings advice built for stable households, child savings accounts that work best for families who already have 529s, and jobs policy that still imagines a mid-20th century labor market—Who are these systems designed for, really? - Laura Freschi and Jonathan Morduch
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