Joanne W. Hsu

徐薈安 | pronounced "shoo" | she/her
University of Michigan, Institute for Social Research
Director, Surveys of Consumers | Research Associate Professor
jwhsu [at] umich.edu, Google Scholar, CV

I am the Director of the Surveys of Consumers, tracking leading economic indicators including consumer sentiment and expectations, and a Research Associate Professor at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. My research is primarily in the fields of household finance, labor economics, public economics, and survey methods, with a current focus on financial sophistication and cognition, and consumer experiences with debt. I previously served as a Principal Economist in the Division of Research and Statistics at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, where my policy portfolio included the Survey of Consumer of Finances and the consumption forecast, as well as a visiting professor at the Department of Economics, Howard University. I completed my PhD in economics at the University of Michigan and my AB in economics and international relations at Brown University.

Recent work and research in progress

Five Patterns in Consumer Responses to Inflation

Does it Pay to Send Multiple Pre-Paid Incentives? Evidence from a Randomized Experiment (with Andrew C. Chang, Eva Ma, Kate Bachtell, and Micah Sjoblom)

Personal Tax Changes and Household Financial Well-Being: Evidence from the 2017 Tax Reform (with Christine Dobridge and Mike Zabek)

Potential Effects of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Programs on Racial Wealth Gaps (with Gerald Daniels, Sarena Goodman, and Venoo Kakar)

The Influence of Gasoline and Food Prices on Consumer Expectations and Attitudes in the COVID Era
Peterson Institute for International Economics Policy Brief 24-3, 2024

Peer-reviewed publications

The Effect of Racial Composition on Neighborhood Housing Prices: Evidence from Hurricane Katrina-Induced Migration (with Madeleine Daepp and devin michelle bunten)
Journal of Urban Economics 134, 2023

Confidence, financial literacy, and investment in risky assets (with Andrej Cupak, Pirmin Fessler, and Piotr Paradowski)
Economic Modelling 116, 2022

Financial Presentation of Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias (with Lauren Nicholas, Kenneth Langa, and Julie Bynum)
JAMA Internal Medicine 181(2), 2021
Non-technical summary: FEDS Note
Editorial Comment by Jason Karlawish
Media: Washington Post, NYT, NYT (2), Miami Herald, CNN, The Independent, US News, International Business Times, Vox, NPR

Minimum Wages and Consumer Credit: Effects on Access and Borrowing (with Lisa Dettling)
Review of Financial Studies 34(5), 2021
Online appendix: PDF
Media: econofact.org, equitablegrowth.org

Identifying Cohabiting Couples in Medicare Claims Data (with Sasmira Matta, Theodore J. Iwashyna, Micah Y. Baum, Kenneth M. Langa, and Lauren Hersch Nicholas)
Health Services and Outcomes Research Methodology 21, 2021

Financial Profiles of Workers Most Vulnerable to Coronavirus-related Earnings Loss in the Spring of 2020 (with Brooke Helppie-McFall)
Financial Planning Review 3(4), 2020

Returning to the Nest: Debt and Parental Co-residence Among Young Adults (with Lisa Dettling)
Labour Economics 54C, 2018
Summary: FEDS Note
Media: Fortune, PBS Newshour, Wall Street Journal (1), WSJ (2), WSJ (3), Slate (1), Slate (2), Fusion (1), Fusion (2), Forbes, CNBC

Unemployment Insurance as a Housing Market Stabilizer (with David Matsa and Brian Melzer)
American Economic Review 108(1), 2018
Previous version: NBER Working Paper 20353, "Positive Externalities of Social Insurance: UI and Consumer Credit"
Summary: NBER Digest
Media: New York Times (1), NYT (2), Washington Post, New Republic, Wall Street Journal, Brookings

Aging and Strategic Learning: The Impact of Spousal Incentives on Financial Literacy
Journal of Human Resources 51(4), 2016
Media: CNBC, U.S. News and World Report, Bankrate.com

Analysis of Wealth using Micro and Macro Data: A Comparison of the Survey of Consumer Finances and Flow of Funds Accounts (with Alice M. Henriques)
Measuring Economic Sustainability and Progress, Studies in Income and Wealth Volume 72, 2014

Dementia Risk and Financial Decision Making by Older Households: The Impact of Information (with Robert Willis)
Journal of Human Capital 7(4), Winter 2013
Media: PBS, Forbes, New York Times

A Test of Web and Mail Mode Effects in a Financially Sensitive Survey of Older Americans (with Brooke Helppie-McFall)
Journal of Economic and Social Measurement 42(2), 2017

The Effect of Large Monetary Incentives on Survey Completion: Evidence From a Randomized Experiment (with Catherine Haggerty, Shannon Nelson, and Max Schmeiser)
Public Opinion Quarterly 81(3), 2017

Heaping at Round Numbers on Financial Survey Questions: The Role of Satisficing (with Michael Gideon and Brooke Helppie-McFall)
Survey Research Methods 11(2), 2017

Selected other publications

Disparities in Wealth by Race and Ethnicity in the 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances (with Neil Bhutta, Andrew C. Chang, and Lisa J. Dettling)
FEDS Notes, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 2020.
Media: Washington Post, WaPo (2), PBS Newshour, Marketwatch, CNN, John Oliver Last Week Tonight

Changes in U.S. Family Finances from 2016 to 2019: Evidence from the Survey of Consumer Finances (with Neil Bhutta, Jesse Bricker, Andrew C. Chang, Lisa J. Dettling, Sarena Goodman, Kevin B. Moore, Sarah Reber, Alice Henriques Volz, and Richard A. Windle)
Federal Reserve Bulletin 106(5), September 2020
Changes in U.S. Family Finances from 2010 to 2013; Changes in U.S. Family Finances from 2013 to 2016

A Wealthless Recovery? Asset Ownership and the Uneven Recovery from the Great Recession (with Lisa J. Dettling and Elizabeth Llanes)
FEDS Notes, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, September 2018.
Media: Fortune, Washington Post, WSJ, Pacific Standard

Where's the Money Going? The Importance of Accounting for Rent Payments in Measuring a Household's Financial Obligations (with Andrew C. Chang, Sarah J. Pack, and Michael G. Palumbo)
FEDS Notes, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, June 2018.

Who provides the best data: Respondent characteristics, financial literacy, and data quality in the Survey of Consumer Finances (with Richard Windle)
JSM Proceedings, Survey Research Methods Section, 2018

Recent Trends in Wealth-Holding by Race and Ethnicity: Evidence from the Survey of Consumer Finances (with Lisa Dettling, Lindsay Jacobs, Kevin B. Moore, and Jeffrey P. Thompson)
FEDS Notes, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, September 2017.

Playing Catch-up: Youth today are not building wealth the way their parents did (with Lisa Dettling)
Finance & Development 54(2), International Monetary Fund, June 2017
Online appendix: Source data for figures
Media: Business Insider

The State of Young Adults' Balance Sheets: Evidence from the Survey of Consumer Finances (with Lisa Dettling)
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Review 96(4): 305-330, Fourth Quarter 2014
Online appendix: Source data for figures
Media: Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Forbes, The Atlantic (1), The Atlantic (2)