Michael Staten

I’ve designed projects on a wide range of policy-oriented issues involving the economics of consumer credit markets. Topics have included the causes and consequences of personal bankruptcy and mortgage foreclosures; the role of credit bureau data, credit scoring and risk management tools in expanding access to consumer loans in the U.S. and globally; and the pros and cons of improved loan disclosures and regulatory limits on loan products in helping consumers to make good credit choices.

I’ve also conducted projects for the National Retail Federation, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other national associations on issues such as credit card usage patterns and the impact of privacy and data usage regulations on the products and customer service offered by retail financial services firms.

I’m particularly proud of a series of projects sponsored by American Express and the Consumer Federation of America that demonstrate the rehabilitative effects of credit counseling on long-term borrower behavior.  I am also proud of our efforts to create pilot demonstration projects here at the University of Arizona that pair financial education with financial products (e.g., savings programs; student loans) to encourage and support completion of higher education degrees. 

Over the past decade, when director of the Take Charge America Institute here at the UA, I gained extensive experience in developing and scaling up financial education programs for youth in classroom and online environments, as well as through peer-to-peer programs.  I expanded to a national scale our flagship outreach program, the award-winning Take Charge Today curriculum. Take Charge Today develops and distributes (free of charge) an extensive, activity-based personal finance curriculum for high-school and middle-school classrooms nationwide (www.takechargetoday.arizona.edu), and companion teacher support and professional development.  More than 48,000 teachers nationwide are authorized users of the Take Charge Today curriculum.  The quality of the curriculum materials was acknowledged by the U.S. Treasury Department when it included three Take Charge Today lessons as part of its educator toolkit to support its 2011 National Financial Capability Challenge. Most recently, in a partnership with the National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE) beginning in 2014, we created a national online resource center for personal finance educators, hosted at the University of Arizona (www.moneyteach.org). Moneyteach provides curriculum resources for middle and high school educators, giving new teachers a trusted place to start when building their courses.  

Degrees

• Ph.D., Economics, Purdue University, 1980
• M.S., Purdue University, Economics, 1978
• B.S., University of Texas at Arlington, Economics, Highest Honors, 1976

Classes Taught

• Introductory Microeconomics
• Intermediate Microeconomics
• Money, Consumers and Family (Undergraduate, general elective)
• Economics and Public Policy (MBA)
• Managerial and Business Economics (Undergraduate and MBA)
• Economics of Information and Uncertainty (Undergraduate and MA)
• Retail Financial Services (upper-division Undergraduate)
• Behavioral Foundations for Consumer Financial Decisions (Graduate)

Recent Publications

Books

Durkin, T., Elliehausen, G.,  Staten M., Zywicki, T. 2014. Consumer Credit and the American Economy.  Oxford University Press.

Refereed journal articles

Staten, Michael. 2015. Risk-Based Pricing in Consumer Lending. Journal of Law, Economics and Policy 11 (1): 33-57.

L. Douglas Smith, Michael Staten, Thomas Eyssell, Maureen Karig, Beth A. Freeborn, and Andrea Golden. 2013.  Accuracy of Information Maintained by U.S. Credit Bureaus:  Frequency of Errors and Effects on Consumers’ Credit Scores. Journal of Consumer Affairs 47 (3): 588-601. 

Brown, D., Link, C.,  Staten, M. 2012.  The Success and Failure of Counseling Agency Debt Repayment Plans.  Eastern Economic Journal 38: 99-117.

Barron, J.M. and Staten, M.E.2008. The Emergence of Captive Finance Companies and Risk Segmentation in Loan Markets: Theory and Evidence. Journal of Money Credit and Banking 40: 173-92.