Publications & papers

Over the past two years, the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and its Center on Finance, Law & Policy, with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, has embarked on an exploration of the Central Bank of the...

This brief is part of the Central Bank of the Future Project (“CBOTF”), a research project that seeks to identify ways that central banks across the world can improve access to financial products and services for underserved communities. CBOTF...

“Financial inclusion in India is soaring,” reads a 2019 headline from the World Economic Forum. The article is rife with promising statistics. In just seven years, the number of Indian citizens holding a bank account increased from forty to eighty...

On March 31, 2021, the University of Michigan Center on Finance, Law & Policy convened a roundtable of central bankers, policy experts, and researchers to examine the intersection of climate change and financial inclusion. Participants included a...

In June 2020, the University of Michigan Center on Finance, Law & Policy held a virtual Roundtable for the Central Bank of the Future Project. This event explored whether central banks could provide services in the following areas: real time...

This open source dataset created by the University of Michigan Center on Finance, Law & Policy. Designed to contribute to an international perspective, this original dataset identifies which central banks around the world have made financial...

This paper, written to assist faculty in teaching about the pandemic, focuses on key actions taken by the financial regulators in response to the crisis so far, giving a detailed summary of the actions taken by the Federal Reserve, the Treasury...

This brief is part of the Central Bank of the Future Project (“CBOTF” or the “Project”), which is designed to identify ways that central banks can improve access to financial products and services for underserved communities. The Project engages...

This paper provides a summary of the Center on Finance, Law & Policy's conference held on October 2-3, 2019 at the University of Michigan called The Central Bank of the Future. The conference brought together distinguished Central Bank Governors,...

One of the critical ways to promote economic security is by making financial services work better for more American families. Efforts to build a financial system that promotes consumer autonomy will involve innovation and reforms to our payment...

This paper is intended to distill the discussion of the June 2019 Central Bank of the Future Roundtable held at the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. The goal of the Roundtable was to consider new ideas that could...

The goal of this paper is to provide an early research note, beginning to build a foundation for a series of forthcoming Central Bank of the Future (CBOTF) papers, so that readers embark on this journey with a basic understanding of the evolution of...

Submitted to the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) March 2019. For the fourth consecutive year, the Office of Financial Research (OFR) and the University of Michigan Center on Finance, Law, and Policy co-hosted a conference addressing...

This paper was drafted at the inception of the Central Bank of the Future research project as a brief memo and overview of ideas. It is intended to provide background supporting the project’s intent and importance. The brief details the approach...

On September 14-15, 2017, the University of Michigan’s Center on Finance, Law, and Policy and behavioral science research and design lab ideas42 brought together influential leaders from academia, government, nonprofits, and the financial sector for...

The Financial Crisis and ensuing Great Recession caused enormous hardship for households. Using original datasets, we examine the effects of the recession on a population many might think had nothing left to lose: low- and moderate-income households...

How can financial data be made more accessible and more secure, as well as more useful to regulators, market participants, and the public? As new data sets are created, opportunities emerge. Vast quantities of financial data may help identify...

Mandatory pre-dispute arbitration clauses are pervasive in consumer financial and investor contracts — for credit cards, bank accounts, auto loans, broker-dealer services, and many others. These clauses often ill serve households. Consumers are...

The following article is based on a talk give by Assistant Professor of Law Michael S. Barr to the University of Texas Law School-Harvard Law School Joint Conference on Commercial Law Realities in Austin, Texas, in April. Barr was selected by the...

Barclays has been fined, the British have issued their report, and now the market is anxious for everything to go on as usual with the London Interbank Offer Rate (“LIBOR”). I think that would be a serious mistake. The U.S. and British...

The problem The obstacles faced by small business owners—lack of access to capital, still-developing business skills, and insufficient business networks for peer support, investment, and business opportunities—can be particularly acute for women...