How best to send bailout checks? Latest data: should exclude families with annual income of $75,000 or more

The Biden administration is discussing the next round of $1,400 per person bailout cash checks, and some members of Congress are calling on Biden to issue bailout checks only to low-income families. The Washington Post reports that the latest statistics show that it is wise to use an annual household income of $75,000 as the dividing line, and that incomes over $75,000 would preclude eligibility for bailout checks, in order to help those most in need and to have a strong effect on reviving the economy.

The federal government previously issued a $600 per person cash bailout check, and Opportunity Insights, a nonprofit policy research organization, conducted an analysis of the public’s use of the bailout check and found that people with an annual household income of less than $75,000 spent the $600 bailout check relatively quickly.

People with an annual household income of more than $75,000 usually save their bailout checks, thus contributing very little to the overall economic revival and representing no urgent need for the bailout money.

The two members of Congress from the Democratic and Republican parties have coincidentally proposed to the White House that if only the most needy low-income people are issued bailout checks, it will allow the huge amount of bailout bills to be suppressed. According to Biden’s original plan, most American families would receive a $1,400 cash check per person.

John Friedman, co-director of Insightful Opportunities and a professor of economics at Brown University, said that cash checks for low-income families only would provide better assistance to families in real need and give the economy a strong boost in the short term. These checks would really have a big impact on low-income families,” he said.

Freeman, Harvard economist Raj Chetty, and Insight Economics scholar Michael Stepner analyzed data on the use of credit cards and debit cards by the U.S. public and found that households and people with incomes of less than $50,000 saw a significant increase in spending when the $600 bailout began to be imported into people’s accounts on the 4th. After the $600 bailout began to be transferred to people’s accounts on the 4th, spending activities increased significantly.

In contrast, people and households earning more than $78,000 per year did not spend significantly more after receiving the relief check.