Graduate workshop: Research in areas regulated by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

It can be difficult for graduate students in economics to learn about issues of current regulatory importance that can be informed by economic research. Due to both the excellence of the CFPB’s research program and the important economic policy issues in consumer finance, the Brookings Center for Regulation and Markets (CRM) hosted a private event for graduate students. It is specifically aimed at graduate students who are interested in consumer finance and want to learn more about issues of current regulatory importance and about data that has been and can be used to explore these issues. The program for graduate students featured researchers from the CFPB and academics studying consumer finance using CFPB data. Breakout sessions at the end were oriented toward helping students further understand the opportunities for research in consumer finance. The event was held remotely via ZOOM.

• Speaker Session 1: Scott Fulford, CFPB Senior Economist, “Consumers in Financial Distress”
• Speaker Session 2: Scott Nelson, Assistant Professor, University of Chicago Booth School of Business, “Private Information and Price Regulation in the US Credit Card Market”
• Speaker Session 3: Eva Nagypal, CFPB Senior Economist, “Academic Research Informing Policymakers?  A Case Study of Overdraft”
• Speaker Session 4: Jeremy Tobacman, Associate Professor of Economics, Lerner Business and Economics, University of Delaware, “Unsecured Credit: Explaining Patterns of Usage”
• Speaker Session 5: Charles Romeo, CFPB Senior Economist,  “The Economics of Debt Collection Policy”