Skip to main content

2012 Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland Policy Summit on Housing, Human Capital, and Inequality

InterContinental Cleveland Hotel, Cleveland, Ohio

The 10th annual Cleveland Fed Policy Summit focused on effective strategies to strengthen and rebuild communities. With neighborhoods and entire regions struggling to regain their footing in the wake of a housing crisis and economic recession, now is a critical time to implement rebuilding strategies that work. What are the most effective strategies, particularly in older industrial cities and the weaker-market regions that surround them? How is the impact of programs best measured? And where should community leaders direct ever-scarcer funds to gain the greatest effect?

This year's conference featured Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President and CEO Sandra Pianalto as the opening keynote speaker. In 2012, President Pianalto again became a voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee.

Award-winning journalist Alex Kotlowitz provided a closing keynote address. Kotlowitz, author of New York Times best-seller "There Are No Children Here" and the 2011 documentary "The Interrupters," shared  his insights on addressing critical challenges that face our nation's most disadvantaged people.

Attendees included elected officials, researchers, practitioners, bankers, funders, and policymakers from across the Midwest to discuss the latest research on and promising practices in economic policy and development in low- and moderate-income communities including:

  • Analyses of programs and policies focused on current conditions in labor and housing markets
  • Education policy
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Financial and human capital asset building
  • Labor and housing issues in older industrial cities
  • Long-term unemployment
  • Loss-mitigation strategies for borrowers
  • Low-income housing
  • Program implementation, evaluation, and scalability
  • Reduced local government and community development budgets
  • Workforce development

Sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland's Research and Community Development Departments

Headlines

  • Semiconductor Shortages and Vehicle Production and Prices

    Pawel Krolikowski Kristoph Naggert

    Vehicle production has fallen since the beginning of the pandemic recession. We investigate reasons for this decline. Manufacturers in this industry cite insufficient materials, including a lack of semiconductors, as increasingly responsible. Demand seems to be less of an issue. In fact, demand has been strong, and together with accelerating prices and sharply declining inventories, it suggests an insufficient supply of new cars. Our best guess is that the materials shortages and their effects on new car prices will subside within the next six to nine months. Read More

  • Why Has Durable Goods Spending Been So Strong during the COVID-19 Pandemic?

    Kristen Tauber Willem Van Zandweghe

    Consumers increased their purchases of durable goods notably during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic may have lifted the demand for durable goods directly, by shifting consumer preferences away from services toward a variety of durable goods. It may also have stimulated spending on durable goods indirectly, by prompting a strong fiscal policy response that raised disposable income. We estimate the historical relationship between durable goods spending and income and find that income gains in 2020 accounted for about half of the increase in durable goods spending, indicating that the direct and indirect effects of the pandemic on durable goods spending were about equally important. Read More

  • Why Wasn’t there a Nonbank Mortgage Servicer Liquidity Crisis?

    Lara Loewenstein

    In March 2020, in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, many were concerned about the liquidity of nonbank mortgage servicers. As it turned out, the vast majority of these servicers did not face a liquidity crisis. In this Commentary I detail the reasons why, including lower than expected take up rates of forbearance, the role played by mortgage origination income, and the actions taken by the government-sponsored enterprises, Ginnie Mae, and housing agencies. Read More

Upcoming EventsSEE ALL