EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT

DATE: 5:30 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2012.

EVENT: The Author’s Forum Presents: “No Slack: The Financial Lives of Low Income Americans, a Conversation with Michael Barr and Sheldon Danziger.”

Barr is a professor at the U-M Law School and Danziger is the Henry J Meyer Distinguished University Professor of Public Policy at Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.

The financial crisis lay bare how the financial system failed the nation but left hidden the many ways in which that system still fails the most vulnerable Americans. In No Slack, Barr explores how low- and moderate-income households cope with financial stress, use financial services to make ends meet and often come up short.

Many households were overleveraged or paid high costs for financial services, while others lacked access to useful financial products that can cushion against economic instability. The financial services system is not well designed to serve low- and moderate-income households, leaving them without financial slack: they did not have adequate breathing room for making the financial adjustments that would permit them to better meet their own needs. No Slack shows us why these families were the least prepared to handle the shock of the deep recession.

The analysis focuses on the Detroit metropolitan area’s low- and moderate-income neighborhoods.

PLACE: Library Gallery, Room 100, Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library, 913 S. University, Ann Arbor. Central Campus map: http://campusinfo.umich.edu/files/campusinfo/field/image/central-campus-map.png

SPONSORS: The U-M Institute for the Humanities, University Library, Great Lakes Literary Arts Center and the Ann Arbor Book Festival. Additional sponsorship is provided by the U-M Law School, Ford School of Public Policy and School of Social Work.