Areas of Expertise
Since joining the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia in 2021, Siddhartha Biswas has focused his research on education and consumer finance. As a financial economist in the Supervision, Regulation, and Credit Department, he pays particular attention to understanding how credit access can impact consumers’ decisions and outcomes, especially in the education and housing markets.
His recent research in education ranges from how student loans affect which colleges students attend to rising college costs and the accumulation of student debt. This work explores the trade-offs of student loans, which can help students fund college and potentially increase earnings but require repayment of student debt later. In one of his recent papers, “Federal Student Loans, College Choice, and Student Welfare,” he explains that although relaxing the borrowing limits of student loans may increase student enrollment in four-year institutions, such a policy does not equally benefit all students.
His other research explores how climate risks can affect mortgage borrowers and lenders. Climate risks can present large shocks to household finances, he says, in particular physical risks, such as natural disasters that can impact housing decisions and financial well-being.
Siddhartha has a Ph.D. and M.S. in economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a B.A. in economics and B.S. in mathematics from the University of Chicago.