Topic: The Effects of Consumer Financial Protection: Evidence from an Enforcement Cutoff
Speaker: James Vickery, Assistant Vice President, Research and Statistics Group, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Date: November 23rd (Wednesday.)
Time: 10:00-11:30am
Location: Building 4, Room 101
Language: English
Abstract:
Around the world, there has been a renewed focus on protecting consumers from unfair or deceptive financial practices in the wake of the global financial crisis. We study the effects of consumer financial protection on the provision of mortgage lending and other financial services, focusing on the activities of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in the United States. Our identification strategy makes use of the fact that small depository institutions are exempt from CFPB supervision and enforcement. We find evidence that CFPB oversight reduces mortgage originations by as much as 20-30 percent, and also affects the supply of some other consumer credit products. Our results suggest that enhanced consumer financial protection has significant effects on the provision of financial services, although they do not speak directly to the net welfare benefits of such regulation.
About the speaker:
James Vickery is an Assistant Vice President in the Research and Statistics Group of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, where he has worked since 2004. Mr. Vickery's research focuses on financial intermediation and banking. Recent and ongoing research topics include capital adequacy, scale economies in banking, mortgage design, interbank markets, and bank organizational complexity. A separate line of research studies financial innovation and insurance in emerging market economies. In addition, Mr. Vickery contributes to the Federal Reserve's financial stability and monetary policy responsibilities, including serving on the Model Oversight Group that directs the Fed's supervisory stress testing models. He also teaches as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the NYU Stern School of Business. Mr. Vickery completed a PhD in Economics from MIT in 2004. Prior to graduate school he was a research analyst at the Reserve Bank of Australia.
