The Payment Cards Center and the Research Department hosted the eighth biennial research conference on topics related to consumer credit and payments.

The papers accepted for this year's conference addressed a wide range of issues, including the design of consumer loan contracts, the effect of consumer credit on real economic activity, the effects of government programs on household behavior during the Great Recession, and the efficacy of programs to make student loan borrowers more knowledgeable.

Agenda

Opening Remarks
Patrick T. Harker, President and CEO, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia


Panel 1: Contract Design

Adverse Selection on Maturity: Evidence from On-Line Consumer Credit
Presenter: Andrew Hertzberg, Columbia University
(Coauthors: Andres Liberman, New York University and Daniel Paravisini, London School of Economics)

Discussant: Anthony DeFusco, Northwestern University

Loan Contracting in the Presence of Usury Limits: Evidence from Automobile Lending
Presenter: Aaron Schroeder, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
(Coauthor: Brian Melzer, Northwestern University)

Discussant: Karen M. Pence, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System


Panel 2:  Credit and the Real Economy

How Credit Constraints Impact Job Finding Rates, Sorting and Aggregate Output
Presenter: Kyle Herkenhoff, University of Minnesota
(Coauthor: Gordon Phillips, University of Southern California and Ethan Cohen-Cole, Econ One Research)

Discussant: Lukasz A. Drozd, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia

Household Credit and Employment in the Great Recession
Presenter: John Mondragon, Northwestern University

Discussant: Kristoph Kleiner, Indiana University


Panel 3:  Government Policy in the Great Recession

Do Banks Pass Through Credit Expansions? The Marginal Profitability of Consumer Lending During the Great Recession
Presenter: Neale Mahoney, University of Chicago
(Coauthors: Sumit Agarwal, National University of Singapore, Souphala Chomsisengphet, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and Johannes Stroebel, New York University)

Discussant: Gregory Nini, Drexel University

The Effect of Negative Equity on Mortgage Default: Evidence from HAMP’s Principal Reduction Alternative
Presenter: Therese C. Scharlemann, U.S. Department of the Treasury
(Coauthor: Stephen H. Shore, Georgia State University)

Discussant: Tomasz Piskorski, Columbia University


Panel 4:  Information Interventions

Does Salient Financial Information Affect Academic Performance and Borrowing Behavior Among College Students?
Presenter: Maximilian D. Schmeiser, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
(Coauthors: Christiana Stoddard and Carly Urban, Montana State University)

Discussant: Basit Zafar, Princeton University and Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Disclaimer: The views contained in the papers and presentations are those of the authors and not those of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia or the Federal Reserve System.