Carlos Figueiredo's Page


LinkedIn \| AARP \| Résumé	Carlos Figueiredo's Page	Twitter: @capfigueiredo

My Philosophy:


Inspired by humanity, guided by reason, informed by science and motivated by human hope and compassion. In a nutshell, this describes the essence of my philosophy of life. I have embraced a philosophical and ethical stance that emphasizes the value and agency of human beings, individually and collectively, and generally prefers critical thinking, and evidence (rationalism, empiricism) over established doctrine or faith (fideism). Many Humanists are also atheists. I am not. During my Ph.D. program I read many philosophy books, which have influenced my way of thinking. I have also embraced the chief characteristic of an ideology called postmodernism: the rejection of absolute objective truth. I believe that the claim of any absolute truth contains the seeds of discrimination, exclusion, segregation and tyranny.

My Links:


Public Policy Institute (PPI)	Prece \| Prayer \| Gebet \| Prière (Source: Seme Draibe)	Paris 2012/2013 restricted
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The Hill We Climb: video \| text \| interview

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Short Bio:

Carlos Figueiredo is a Senior Methods Advisor with the AARP Public Policy Institute, where he provides data analyses for public policy research projects that use large public-use data sets. He conducts policy analyses that require complex programming, data manipulation, data analysis, and computer simulations. He holds a Ph.D. in Public Administration and Information and Decision Systems from the George Washington University, a Master's degree in Policy Analysis and Planning from the University of Minnesota, and a Civil Engineering degree from the Federal University of Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil.

Publications:

The US Essential Workforce Ages 50 and Older
During the early stages of the COVID-19 crisis, as businesses either closed or moved employees to telework, the vital importance of a segment of the overall working population, the essential workforce, came to light for Americans. These workers perform jobs that are necessary to critical infrastructure operations. Spread across many industries and occupational groups these workers have kept vital parts of the US critical infrastructure, economy, health care system in operation. Many of these essential workers are ages 50 and older. This Fact Sheet looks at the demographics of the 50+ essential workforce and the industries and occupations where they work.
With COVID-19 Cases Rising, Essential Workers Forge Ahead
Blog: The pandemic has highlighted the importance of the essential workforce, including workers ages 50 and older.
Millions of Adults Ages 50 and Older Rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) helps 8.7 million households with adults ages 50 and older put food on the table and is especially critical during the current COVID-19 pandemic. This fact sheet describes selected characteristics of older SNAP households and the benefits they receive.
Does Short-term Emergency Savings Translate into Longer-term Financial Wellness?
This paper is the first in a series authored by academic scholars in collaboration with the AARP Public Policy Institute that addresses this research question. Carlos Figueiredo from the AARP Public Policy Institute assisted greatly with constructing variables and analyzing data.
Effect of Health Reform for 50- to 64-Year-Olds
What do the reforms in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) mean for 50- to 64- Year-olds? AARP's Public Policy Institute explores this question in the "Effect of Health Reform for 50- to 64-Year Olds". Much depends on whether people have health coverage now and on how they get it. Most people in this age group are covered through employers, so employers’ decisions about health benefits shape their options. For those who have modest incomes and who currently buy in the individual market, the reforms may help make coverage more affordable and remove obstacles for anyone with health problems. For those who are uninsured, the ACA improves access to private and public coverage and offers financial help for people with low incomes.
Older Americans' Ambivalence Toward Annuities
The decline of the traditional defined benefit (DB) pension and the rise of the 401(k) plan has shifted the burden of deciding how the retirement nest egg should be distributed onto millions of retirees, substantially increasing their risk of running out of money in old age. Annuitizing some or all of the assets in a 401(k) can help reduce longevity risk and investment risk.
This report presents data from an AARP survey that canvassed 1,750 older workers and 670 retirees with either a pension plan or an individual retirement account about their distribution decision. The survey found that annuities are more popular than many observers have thought. In addition to participants receiving an annuity automatically from their DB plan, 30 percent of workers and 41 percent of retirees planned to choose or had actively chosen a life or other type of annuity. Older workers who could not or would not choose an annuity expressed moderate interest in a more flexible arrangement, such as partial annuitization, gradual annuitization, or a trial arrangement. Retirees were less interested.
The survey's finding of greater than expected interest in annuities is encouraging. However, annuitization remains uncommon among 401(k) plan members, so that many retired Americans, especially women, are at risk of exhausting their nest egg. Reducing underannuitization should be a top policy priority.
Boom and Bust: Housing Equity Withdrawal and Consumption Decisions and Their Impacts on Household Wealth
The authors examine whether the surge in housing refinance and equity withdrawal generated by the housing boom disproportionately affected older households in terms of decisions on whether to refinance, whether to withdraw equity, and how much to withdraw, and how in turn these decisions affected their household wealth. Using the Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Finances, the authors found the highest rates of refinancing and cashing out equity among older (although not necessarily the oldest) households. The authors also found that appreciation in house value, being a baby boomer, and having higher household income were the factors that most increased the probability of refinancing and withdrawing equity. Amounts cashed out were higher among older than among younger households. Ordinary least squares (OLS) estimates showed that amounts withdrawn were increased by price appreciation, financial assets, and income, along with being a "pre-boomer" or "early boomer." Older cohorts displayed larger wealth effects than younger ones, but their withdrawn equity was a smaller percentage of total net worth. A relatively small percentage of respondents' dollars was used for consumption, and most dollars were used for home improvement, other investment, or debt repayment. However, massive equity withdrawal and the subsequent collapse of housing prices have caused housing leverage to soar, putting some homeowners "underwater" and jeopardizing others' retirement preparedness. The ensuing housing finance crisis raises numerous policy issues, from reform of mortgage underwriting, securitization, servicing, and foreclosure procedures, to potential limitations on borrowing against unrealized housing equity gains, to enhanced government transfers for distressed older homeowners, to local and state revenue policy changes.
Health Insurance Coverage for 50- to 64-Year-Olds
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) promises to improve access to adequate, affordable health care coverage for all older adults, especially for those with lower incomes and pre-existing medical conditions. The share of adults age 50 to 64 who are at risk for high health care spending is rising, while the share with employer-sponsored health coverage is declining.
How the Travel Patterns of Older Adults Are Changing: Highlights from the 2009 National Household Travel Survey
This AARP Public Policy Institute Fact Sheet is the first in a series of publications on the travel patterns of older adults. This analysis of the 2009 National Household Travel Survey by Jana Lynott and Carlos Figueiredo found that:
- Older adults comprise an increasing share of the nation's travel.
- Although individuals are traveling less, particularly in private vehicles, public transportation use is up.
- Older men are more mobile than older women; however, the gap has been narrowing.
- The number of older non-drivers has grown by more than 1.1 million.
To accommodate the mobility needs of an aging population, the focus of transportation planning and policy must shift from increasing road capacity to providing more multi-modal solutions. Investments are needed in Complete Streets, older driver safety measures, volunteer driver programs, public and specialized transportation, and implementation of the CLASS program.
Multigenerational Households Are Increasing
Growth of multigenerational households has accelerated during the economic downturn. In 2008, 6.2 million intergenerational households resided in the United States (5.3% of all households.) That number jumped to 7.1 million households by 2010 (6.1% of all households.) The increase in these two years represents a faster rate of growth than the previous eight years combined.
19 Million Working-Age Americans Have a Disability that Limits or Prevents Work. Most Are Poor or Low-Income
More than 19 million working age Americans (10.9 percent of people ages 21 to 64) have a work disability, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau's March 2008 Current Population Survey (CPS). People with disabilities are often at a distinct disadvantage in the labor market. A key challenge facing policymakers is how to design public programs (and encourage private employers) to effectively support people with disabilities in their efforts to secure and retain employment and achieve economic self-sufficiency. Public and private insurance programs, and public assistance programs, may replace lost income and provide health insurance coverage for workers with severe disabilities, but programs need to be improved both to provide more timely and adequate assistance to people who cannot work and to provide needed supports to people with disabilities who can work.
Deeper in Debt: Trends Among Midlife and Older Americans
The latter half of the 1990s may be remembered as a period of unusually strong growth in the American economy, when the nation's wealth grew at a robust 6 percent annual pace, and the three-decade-long string of federal budget deficits was finally reversed. Tax-deferred 401(k) accounts swelled with earnings on stock investments, and by 1998 nearly half the population owned stocks directly or indirectly, up from 32 percent less than a decade earlier.
Deeper in Debt Redux: Housing and Nonhousing Debt Burdens
The late 1990s were years of almost unprecedented wealth accumulation. A less known fact is that they were also years of substantial growth in personal debt, most of it in the form of mortgage debt. A recent Data Digest reported on changes in combined housing and nonhousing aggregate (i.e., for the entire population) debt among those aged 50 and older between 1989 and 1998. In this Data Digest, aggregate housing and nonhousing debt burdens are examined by age and income to determine if there are significant differences in the size or distribution of housing and nonhousing debt.
In Their Dreams: What Will Boomers Inherit?
Inheritances are not just the stuff of dreams, but have potentially important personal planning and public policy implications. This AARP Public Policy Institute Data Digest examines the occurrence and expectation of inheritances by the baby boomer cohort, as well as by pre-boomers (born before 1946) and post-boomers (born after 1964).
Pennies from Heaven: Will Inheritances Bail Out the Boomers?
Will inheritances play an important role in the financial security of boomers as they approach retirement? In this AARP Public Policy Institute (PPI) Data Digest, Mitja Ng-Baumhackl, John Gist and Carlos Figueiredo use recent data from the Federal Reserve Board to explore whether boomers are going to inherit large amounts of wealth from their parents, the implications for retirement security, and how inheritances might influence decisions to work and retire. While research published a decade ago suggests that boomers, as a group, will inherit as much as $10 trillion in the next few decades, this PPI research finds that, for most boomers, inheritances will remain an elusive, or small, contributor to their retirement security.
Beyond 50: A Report to the Nation on Economic Security
Drawing a definitive picture of the economic status of people after they turn 50, AARP's Beyond 50 report provides an in-depth look at the well-being of more than a quarter of the U.S. population - the 76 million people age 50 and older in 2000. The report appraises past assumptions and identifies new trends and areas of concern.
A Critical Look at Equity Investment in the 1994-1996 Advisory Council on Social Security Recommendations
Three approaches to restoring Social Security's long-term solvency were offered in the recent recommendations of the 1994-1996 Advisory Council on Social Security: the Maintain Benefits Equity Investment (MBEI), Personal Security Accounts (PSA), and the Individual Accounts (IA) Plans. This 29-page issue brief describes and analyzes the impacts on individuals of the three approaches. It uses projections of stock market fluctuations to help evaluate the adequacy and equity of the three proposals. The paper observes that everyone's experience investing in equities in the IA or PSA plans (the two plans with individual investment components) will differ-some investors will receive low yields and some will receive high yields.

Carlos Figueiredo

ARTE: DE \| FR	Le Monde \| Le Point \| France Inter	Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
Der Spiegel \| Deutsche Welle	C dans l'air \| France 24	Die Welt \| Die Zeit \| Die Süddeutsche Zeitung
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