Economic Security Index: Report Update Finds Economic Security Improves in 2011

An update (PDF) to the Economic Security Index (ESI) report, authored by Jacob S. Hacker, Gregory Huber, Austin Nichols, Philipp Rehm, and Stuart Craig, finds that more than half (26) of the American states experienced statistically significant decreases in insecurity in 2011. While four states experienced statistically significant increases, the rest did not register statistically significant changes. While a reduction in income losses is the main driver of change in the ESI, part of the decline in insecurity from 2010 to 2011 resulted from a fall in household debt levels—another component of the index.

More about ESI: The Economic Security Index is a comprehensive measure of economic security that tracks the proportion of Americans who see their “available household income”—their household income after paying for medical care and servicing their financial debts—decline by 25 percent or more from one year to the next and who lack sufficient financial wealth (such as savings) to replace this lost income. See press release: ESI November 2012. See paper on the Social Science Research Network.