Thursday, September 19

11:30 A.M. – 1:00 P.M.

REGISTRATION, LUNCH, & OPENING ADDRESS

Keynote speaker:

Sandra Pianalto, President & CEO, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland

1:00 – 2:30 P.M.

OPENING PLENARY

The New Housing Finance System: Are We There Yet?

In this opening plenary session, noted researchers and policy experts will take up the current heated debate over the future of housing finance in this country. How will the new financial environment, particularly in light of more recent regulatory changes, influence housing finance going forward? What are the points of consensus and contention regarding the roles of the GSEs, the FHA, and private market participants? Addressing these issues from multiple angles, the plenary participants will discuss the path forward for housing finance, and, not least, the implications for access to affordable housing by low-income households.

Moderator:

Robert Avery, Project Director of the National Mortgage Database , Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA)

Speakers:

Anthony Sanders, Professor of Finance, George Mason University

David S. Scharfstein, Edmund Cogswell Converse Professor of Finance and Banking, Harvard Business School

Susan Wachter, Richard B. Worley Professor of Financial Management & Professor of Real Estate and Finance, The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

2:40 – 4:10 P.M.

CONCURRENT SESSION A

RESEARCH BREAKOUT A1

Affordable Housing, Mortgage Underwriting, and Default: The Case of the FHA

In the past few years FHA’s market share has increased substantially, as have its default and foreclosure rates. Recently, the White House announced that the FHA may have to make a capital call to Treasury for the first time in its history, prompting much debate over the future of the organization. In this session, a panel of experts will discuss the FHA’s financial situation, its role in providing affordable housing, and explore potential policy responses.

Moderator:

Emre Ergungor, Senior Research Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland

Speakers:

Edward J. Pinto, Resident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
How the FHA Hurts Working-Class Families and Communities

David Reiss, Professor, Brooklyn Law School
How Low is Too Low? The Federal Housing Administration and the Low Downpayment Loan

Joseph Tracy, Executive Vice President and Senior Advisor to the President, Federal Reserve Bank of New York
Is the FHA Creating Sustainable Homeownership?

RESEARCH BREAKOUT A2

Small Business Trends and Policies after the Great Recession

Research shared in this session will give participants a detailed view of what characterizes small businesses and small business employment, clarifying long-held misconceptions on the topic and possible implications in policymaking. The session will also include presentation of an analysis of the effectiveness of a large-scale entrepreneurship training program, and what it means for policy.

Moderator:

Lockwood Reynolds, Assistant Professor, Kent State University

Speakers:

Manuel Adelino, Assistant Professor, Duke University's Fuqua School of Business
House Prices, Collateral and Self-Employment

Benjamin Pugsley, Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of New York
What Do Small Businesses Do?

PRACTITIONER BREAKOUT A3

Getting the Right Balance: Generating Income and Achieving Savings in a Post-Recession World

Household balance sheets are all about income and assets (what you earn and what you own) vs. debts and spending (what you owe and what you consume). In addition to income, savings plays an integral role in family financial stability. This session will look at the current state of household balance sheets post-recession, and delve into the components of the balance sheet. It will also attempt to answer: What programs help those with less robust balance sheets people generate income? What tools are available to facilitate saving by low- and moderate-income individuals?

Moderator:

David Rothstein, Researcher at Policy Matters Ohio and Project Director for the Ohio CASH Coalition

Speakers:

Amelia Erwitt, Executive Director and Associate Commissioner, Office of Financial Empowerment, NYC

Joanna Smith-Ramani, Director of Scale Strategies, D2D (Doorways 2 Dreams Fund)

Lauren Williams, Program Manager, Entrepreneurship & Affordable Homeownership, CFED

PRACTITIONER BREAKOUT A4

In a Pinch: Access to Affordable Short-Term Credit

Access to mainstream sources of consumer credit is a challenge for many low- and moderate-income households. To meet gaps in monthly expenses and income, some turn to small dollar credit products such as payday loans. While these products do fill consumer needs, it is often at a high cost to borrowers. Panelists in this session will discuss why consumers use these products despite the costs; the availability of small dollar credit products and the impact of regulation on them; and some innovative and more affordable approaches to fulfilling the short-term credit needs of consumers.

Moderator:

Rob Levy, Director of Research, Center for Financial Services Innovation

Speakers:

Sarah Davies, Senior Vice President, Analytics, Product Management and Research, VantageScore Solutions, LLC

Ryan Gilbert, Co-Founder and CEO, BillFloat

Michael Griffin, Senior Vice President, KeyBank

4:15 – 5:45 P.M.

CONCURRENT SESSION B

RESEARCH BREAKOUT B1

Consumer and Household Finance

This research session focuses on topics related to the finances of consumers and households. The topics covered include: household borrowing behavior through the housing boom and bust and the substitution between mortgage and non-mortgage debt, the consumption response to tax refunds, and the benefits and costs of checking accounts as they are actually used by low-and moderate income households.

Moderator:

Dan Hartley, Research Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland

Speakers:

Meta Brown, Senior Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of New York
The Impact of Housing Markets on Consumer Debt: Credit Report Evidence from 1999 to 2012

Hoonsuk Park, PhD Candidate, Ohio State University
Do Households Respond to Expected or to Actual Cash Flows? Evidence from Daily Transaction Data Surrounding Federal Tax Refunds

Katherine Samolyk, Senior Economist, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Checking Account Activity, Account Costs, and Account Closure among Low- and Moderate-Income Households

RESEARCH BREAKOUT B2

Improving the Mortgage Origination Process

How fair is the mortgage origination process? This session will present one experiment and two program evaluations related to this process. The experiment investigates discrimination by mortgage originators; the evaluations address effectiveness of specific interventions in the mortgage origination process, as well as regulations governing it. The session aims to advance the discussion of ways to make the mortgage origination process fairer and the resulting mortgages sustainable. (A complementary practitioner session is offered on Friday—breakout session C3, “The Changing Mortgage Industry.”)

Moderator:

Lei Ding, Community Development Economic Advisor, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia

Speakers:

Andrew Hanson, Associate Professor of Economics, Marquette University
Experimental Tests for Discrimination by Mortgage Loan Originators

Lan Shi, Professor, University of Washington
The Effect of Mortgage Broker Licensing On Loan Origination Standards and Defaults under the Originate-to-Distribute Model: Evidence from the U.S. Mortgage Market

Kenneth Temkin, Principal, Temkin Associates
Pre-Purchase Counseling Impacts on Mortgage Performance: Empirical Analysis of NeighborWorks America’s Experience

PRACTITIONER BREAKOUT B3

Putting a Lid on It: Addressing Student Loan Debt

This session will answer five questions: What’s behind increasing student loan debt? How does student loan debt affect the near- and long-term financial wellbeing of borrowers? Is the investment in human capital worth it for all students? What have educational institutions and policymakers done to address increasing costs? Are there promising alternatives approaches to financing higher education? (A complementary research session is offered on Friday—breakout session C1, “Student Loans.”)

Moderator:

Kelly Edmiston, Senior Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City

Speakers:

Bryan Ashton, Financial Wellness Coordinator, The Office of Student Life Student Wellness Center, Ohio State University

Justin Draeger, President, National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators

Megan Kiesel, Program Development Manager, Clarifi

PRACTITIONER BREAKOUT B4

Nontraditional Tools in the Neighborhood Stabilization Toolbox

The housing crisis has spawned a number of responses from the federal government, such as programs encouraging modifications and refinancings of distressed mortgages. In addition to these approaches, some communities are finding value in other, more nontraditional means of stabilizing their neighborhoods, including shared-equity homeownership and community land trusts, private investors buying and rehabbing homes, and attracting more people to areas that suffered population declines. How do these models work, and in what conditions are they designed to succeed at helping stabilize neighborhoods? What role can regulations play in furthering such efforts? This session features researchers and policy experts on community land trusts, shared equity models, private sector investments in neighborhoods, and policies aimed at attracting immigrant and refugee populations to once-declining areas.

Moderator & Speaker:

Lou Tisler, Executive Director, Neighborhood Housing Services of Greater Cleveland

Speakers:

Shelly Callahan, Executive Director, Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees, Utica, NY

Sean Dobson, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, Amherst Investments LLC

Rob Pitingolo, Research Associate, Urban Institute

5:45 – 7:00 P.M.

RECEPTION

Friday, September 20

8:00 – 9:00 A.M.

BREAKFAST PANEL

Shining a Light on Regulatory Enforcement

Murky, nebulous, and impenetrable are words commonly used when trying to understand how agencies enforce regulations. Join us for an interactive discussion over breakfast with a panel of federal and state regulators who will shed light on that gray area of policy known as regulatory enforcement. What factors are considered when agencies plan their enforcement strategies? How do agencies balance the potential unintended consequences that can result from blunt enforcement policies with the need for such tactics? The panelists’ brief presentations will be followed by a facilitated discussion, providing the audience with the opportunity to participate and perhaps walk away with a new vocabulary: Clear, transparent, understandable…

Speakers:

Jon Steiger, Regional Director, Federal Trade Commission (FTC)

9:00 – 10:30 A.M.

CLOSING PLENARY

Consumer Finances and Protection in the New Regulatory Environment

When does consumer protection work best? Some argue that consumers need as much protection from themselves as from profit-seeking companies. In this plenary session, national policy experts will discuss consumer protection in the new regulatory environment with a particular focus on the values – and limits – of regulations and mandatory information disclosures. When does the cost of product oversight outweigh the benefits? And how may the new rules affect the finances of low-income consumers?

Moderator:

Mark Sniderman, Executive Vice President and Chief Policy Officer, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland

Speakers:

Michael Barr, Professor of Law, University of Michigan Law School

Vanessa Perry, Chair and Associate Professor of Marketing, George Washington University

Jonathan Zinman, Visiting Scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia and Associate Professor, Dartmouth College

10:40 A.M.– 12:10 P.M.

CONCURRENT SESSION C

RESEARCH BREAKOUT C1

Student Loans

According to a recent report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, student debt was the only type of household debt that continued to rise through the Great Recession. By the end of 2012, in fact, almost a third of student loans in the repayment period were delinquent. Research presented in this session explains why, in spite of growing tuition fees and debt, there is no evidence in favor of a student loan bubble. This session also presents work on borrowers’ behavior with respect to their student loan debt when faced with other types of debt, as well as an analysis of regulations and policies to reduce the risks associated with educational investments. (This research session is a complementary offering to practitioner session B3, “Addressing Student Loan Debt.”)

Moderator:

Vyacheslav Mikhed, Visiting Scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia and PhD Candidate, University of Alberta

Speakers:

Michael Simkovic, Associate Professor, Seton Hall School of Law
Risk-Based Student Loans

Sarah Turner, University Professor of Economics & Education, University of Virginia
Student Loans: Do College Students Borrow Too Much—Or not Enough?

RESEARCH BREAKOUT C2

Mortgage Defaults and Labor Markets

The papers in this session will report on research that examines the interaction between mortgage and housing markets and labor markets. Papers in the session will examine the relationship between unemployment, unemployment insurance, and mortgage default at both the micro and macro levels.

Speakers:

Kyle Herkenhoff, Ph.D Candidate, Department of Economics, University of California-Los Angeles
Foreclosure Delays and U.S. Unemployment

Brian Melzer, Assistant Professor of Finance, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University
Unemployment Insurance and Consumer Credit

Chao Yue Tian, Research Associate, Center for Community Capital, UNC at Chapel Hill
Differential Impacts of Structural and Cyclical Unemployment on Mortgage default and Prepayment

PRACTITIONER BREAKOUT C3

At a Crossroads: The Changing Mortgage Industry

In the wake of the Dodd-Frank Act, the mortgage regulatory environment is changing dramatically. Join us as we explore how the current environment is affecting mortgage lending and how upcoming regulatory changes will impact mortgage credit in the future. Panelists will discuss the key mortgage regulations and what the implications are for borrowers, lenders, and communities as the market adjusts. (This practitioner session is a complement to research session B2, “Improving the Mortgage Origination Process.”)

Moderator:

Ernie Hogan, Executive Director, Pittsburgh Community Reinvestment Group

Speakers:

Ken Benton, Senior Consumer Regulations Specialist, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia

Jayna Bower, Director, NeighborWorks Center for Homeownership Education & Counseling (invited)

Dennis Lagueux, Senior Vice President of Community Development, TD Bank

PRACTITIONER BREAKOUT C4

Small Business Financing: Trends

Recent discussions about small business have focused on the challenges small businesses face obtaining credit in today’s marketplace. In this session, experts will discuss the frictions slowing the flow of this credit, recent trends in how small businesses are operating and obtaining financing, and the variety of ways banks are approaching small business lending.

Moderator:

Anita Campbell, CEO, Small Business Trends, LLC

Speakers:

Linda O’Connell, Small Business Banking Manager, Barlow Research Associates, Inc.

Ann Marie Wiersch, Policy Analyst, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland

12:15 – 1:30 P.M.

LUNCH & CLOSING ADDRESS

Keynote speaker:

Eldar Shafir, William Stewart Tod Professor of Psychology and Public Affairs, Princeton University