FEBRUARY 2005

Michael E. Staten

Michael E. Staten Distinguished Professor and Director, Credit Research Center McDonough School of Business Georgetown University Washington, D.C.

Prof. Staten specializes in the economics of markets for retail financial services. His recent research projects have examined the impact of regulation on credit and insurance markets, the causes and consequences of personal bankruptcy, measurement of household debt burden, and privacy issues related to the collectition and use of personal financial information.

As Director of the Credit Research Center since 1990, Prof. Staten has designed and conducted projects on a wide range of policy-oriented issues involving consumer credit markets. Since its founding at Purdue University in 1974, the Center has built a national reputation for its analysis of the economics of consumer credit markets. The Center's research product is used by the U.S. Congress, regulatory agencies, legislatures, the credit industry, consumer groups and the court system. The Center moved to the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University in 1997.

Prof. Staten has presented expert testimony on credit and insurance issues before committees of the U.S. House and Senate and various state legislatures. He has published articles in various professional journals including The American Economic Review, the Journal of Law and Economics, Economic Inquiry, the Journal of Health Economics, the Journal of Economics and Business, and Psychology and Marketing. In 1997 his book Consumer Attitudes Toward Credit Insurance (with John M. Barron) won the American Risk and Insurance Association's Elizur Wright Award for its contribution to the risk management and insurance literature. Prof. Staten is a Board member for the Education Foundation of the American Financial Services Association. He also served as Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Purdue Employees Federal Credit Union from 1995-1997.