PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Washington, Ebonya
TI  - The Impact of Banking and Fringe Banking Regulation on the Number of Unbanked Americans
AID  - 10.3368/jhr.XLI.1.106
DP  - 2006 Jan 01
TA  - Journal of Human Resources
PG  - 106--137
VI  - XLI
IP  - 1
4099  - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/XLI/1/106.short
4100  - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/XLI/1/106.full
SO  - J Hum Resour2006 Jan 01; XLI
AB  - Thirty-five to 45 percent of low-income American households do not possess a bank account. This statistic coupled with claims of price gouging by check cashers has prompted government intervention. I find that state legislation requiring banks to offer low-cost accounts slightly decreases the number of low-income minority unbanked households, but only with a substantial lag. Caps on check-cashing fees also lead to a small, but more immediate, reduction in the number of unbanked among this population. Because price caps may lead to a reduction in supply, welfare effects are indeterminate.