Researcher

This document summarizes the proceedings of the 2008 Research Seminar on Financial Education, hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland and provides links to presentations made by leading scholars of financial literacy.

Abstract: We analyze the phenomenon that low- and moderate-income (LMI) tax filers exhibit a "preference for over-withholding" their taxes, a measure we derive from a unique set of questions administered in a dataset of 1,003 households, which we collected through the Survey Research Center at the University of Michigan.

From 2002–2007, Kleimann Communication Group, Inc. (KCG) conducted six rounds of qualitative testing on various consumer mortgage forms for the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development. This report summarizes each round of testing. Mortgage disclosure forms included in the testing were the Good Faith Estimate (GFE) form, the Guaranteed Mortgage Package Agreement (GMPA), the Mortgage Package Offer form (MPO). Testing was conducted in several U.S. cities using several hundred demographically diverse consumers.

This paper evaluates the presence of racial disparities in the issuance of Consumer Credit. Using a unique and proprietary database of credit histories from a major credit bureau, this paper links location-based information on race with individual credit files. After controlling for the influence of such other place-specific factors as crime, housing vacancy rates, and general population demographics, the paper finds qualitatively large differences in the amount of credit offered to similarly qualified applicants living in Black versus White areas.

Individuals are increasingly in charge of their own financial security after retirement. But how well-equipped are individuals to make saving decisions; do they possess adequate financial literacy, are they informed about the most important components of saving plans, do they even plan for retirement? This paper shows that financial illiteracy is widespread among the U.S. population and particularly acute among specific demographic groups, such as those with low education, women, African-Americans, and Hispanics.

In theory, financial professionals are relatively distinct: A broker conducts transactions in securities on behalf of others; a dealer buys and sells securities for his or her own accounts; and an investment adviser provides advice to others regarding securities. Broker-dealers and investment advisers are subject to different regulatory structures. But trends in the financial services market since the early 1990s have blurred the boundaries between them. Regulatory reform requires a clearer understanding of the industry’s complexities. The U.S.