Consumer Finance
Our Consumer Finance Institute researches how people earn, spend, save, and invest, as well as how credit markets and payment systems affect the economy. Our goal is to foster a healthy consumer sector, a stable financial system, and a resilient regional and national economy.
Working Paper
Interchange Fees in Payment Networks: Implications for Prices, Profits, and Welfare
WP 26-29 – This paper examines the level of a wholesale price — the interchange fee — typically set by a payment card network that influences the distribution of acceptance costs and benefits incurred or received by merchants and consumers. It offers new theoretical insights into price regulation in payments.
Report
LIFE Survey Data Report – April 2026
This report is part of a quarterly series on key observations from the Labor, Income, Finances, and Expectations (LIFE) Survey. Data from the survey provide insight into consumers’ recent financial lives and their future expectations.
Brief
Is Household Financial Health Improving?
In this CFI Research Brief, we use anonymized credit report data on consumer delinquency to assess the recent trajectory of households' financial health.
Working Paper
Time-Consistent Individuals, Time-Inconsistent Households
WP 26-20 – I model financial decision-making for multiperson households where members care for each other but make independent decisions. I show that the household saves less than optimal. Separate savings accounts may limit the undersaving problem.
Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) Lender File
31 Jul ’25
The HMDA Lender File includes characteristics of firms receiving mortgage applications and originating loans. The data set enables users to connect HMDA filers to their parent organizations and compare a filer’s lending over time.
Brief
Changing Jobs in the Current Market – Survey Data on Employee Job Searching
In this brief, we explore data relating to job search behavior among established employees — those who are currently employed and have been at their job for at least one year.