Page 5
2023-R-0100 April 5, 2023 Page 5 of 7
The Atlanta Fed’s CLIFF Suite The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta (the Atlanta Fed) developed a Career Ladder Identifier and Financial Forecaster (CLIFF) suite of tools to model how public benefits, taxes, tax credits, and wage progressions interact. Two of these tools, the CLIFF Dashboard and the CLIFF Planner focus on career planning. The CLIFF Dashboard describes in detail the long-term financial implications of a new career, including (1) income and public assistance over a 20-year period and (2) a self- sufficiency target that identifies the estimated level at which after-tax income will position a worker to cover basic expenses. The CLIFF Planner helps users when they are ready to map out the details of a career move by building a customized education plan, career plan, and budget, producing a more individualized financial portrait than the CLIFF Dashboard.
The suite also includes the following tools and dashboards: 1. the CLIFF Snapshot compares a user’s financial situation to possible alternative scenarios to better understand how an increase in wages, additional hours worked, or participation in public assistance programs may better position him or her for financial stability; 2. the CLIFF Guaranteed Income Dashboard shows the effect that receiving guaranteed income has on public assistance benefits to inform prospective guaranteed income pilot participants or pilot program designers; and 3. the Policy Rules Database Dashboard is a visualization tool that shows how all existing public assistance programs and tax credits affect various types of families in any location in the United States.
For example, the Public Rules Database Dashboard provides information as shown in Figures 1 and 2 for a family with one adult with no disabilities and two children (ages 3 and 6) in Hartford, Connecticut. Other assistance programs may be added.