Publications
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Research & Commentary: Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act
Publication -Research and Commentaries -Sen. Chris Dodd’s (D-CT) and Rep. Barney Frank’s (D-MA) sweeping Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, currently under consideration in the U.S. Senate, is both ambitious and controversial. -
Research & Commentary: Interchange Fee Update
Publication -Research and Commentaries -In an effort to force a reduction of what consumer advocates call "swipe fees" and depository institutions call "interchange fees," many in Congress are proposing heavy regulation of these fees, which are charged for processing transactions through debit -
Research & Commentary: Wisconsin Auto Insurance Mandates and Minimum Rate Hikes
Publication -Research and Commentaries -In his 2009 budget, Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle introduced a series of regulatory changes to Wisconsin’s auto insurance market. -
Credit Scoring in Washington State
Publication -Policy Briefs -Across the country, credit scores play an important role in many insurance companies’ ratemaking. -
Keeping a Good Thing Going
Publication -Policy Briefs -The numbers speak for themselves. After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated Louisiana in 2005, more than $15 billion in private-sector insurance money flowed in to rebuild the state and its neighbors. -
Research & Commentary: Homeowners’ Defense Act
Publication -Research and Commentaries -Concerned about making homeowners' insurance affordable in coastal areas, Congress currently is considering proposals to expand its role in catastrophe insurance. -
Research & Commentary: Credit Union Member Business Lending
Publication -Research and Commentaries -Access to credit is an essential component of a market system, and the tightening of credit markets in the course of the economic downturn has businesses and entrepreneurs struggling to sustain themselves and grow. Small businesses have suffered the most. -
Research & Commentary: Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae’s Blank Check
Publication -Research and Commentaries -In 2008 the Bush administration’s Treasury Department seized control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) that stand behind a majority of the nation’s $12 trillion mortgage market. -
Research & Commentary: Transaction Taxes
Publication -Research and Commentaries -In recent weeks the idea of a "transaction tax" that would impose an apparently small fee on all stock, future, swap, credit default swap, and option transactions has gained significant support among some members of Congress and left-of-center advocacy -
Michigan’s FAIR Legislation Is Fundamentally Flawed
Publication -Policy Briefs -A legislative initiative called Fair, Affordable Insurance Rates (FAIR) is poised to begin gathering signatures throughout Michigan. -
Research & Commentary: Property Mitigation
Publication -Research and Commentaries -The term “property mitigation” can refer to almost any effort or incentive to make a given building or area of land safer against the forces of nature. -
Research & Commentary: First Time Home Buyers Tax Credit
Publication -Research and Commentaries -Federal legislators and many industry groups are calling for not only an extension, but a fourfold expansion, of the First Time Home Buyers Tax Credit program, at an estimated annual cost of $50 to $100 billion. -
10 Principles of P&C Insurance Reform
Publication -Legislative Principles -We wrote this guide for three reasons: because insurance is an important economic activity; because it is regulated almost entirely at the state level and is thus of particular concern to state legislators; and because we hope a look at the principles -
Research & Commentary: Reforming Texas’s Unemployment Fund
Publication -Research and Commentaries -As the economy remains in the doldrums, the unemployment compensation fund in Texas has become insolvent. The state's unemployment rate stood at 8 percent as of June. -
Research & Commentary: Texas Windstorm Insurance
Publication -Research and Commentaries -Texas is a model of fiscal stability compared to most other states--with one glaring exception. Texas is one hurricane away from bankrupting its state-run wind insurance pool. -
Research & Commentary: Extension of Unemployment Fund a Bad Idea
Publication -Research and Commentaries -Florida has taken a sharp turn in the wrong direction with the recent bailout and expansion of the state’s unemployment insurance program. -
Research & Commentary: Optional Federal Charter: The Future of Insurance Regulation?
Publication -Research and Commentaries -The McCarran-Ferguson Act of 1945 ushered in the current era of state regulation of the insurance industry. -
Research & Commentary: Windstorm Expansion of the National Flood Insurance Program
Publication -Research and Commentaries -In an effort to address the concerns of coastal residents and respond to political pressure to subsidize the risk posed by hurricanes, the national government is considering proposals to expand its role in coastal insurance. -
The Ineffectiveness of Individual Mandates
Publication -Research and Commentaries -Providing insurance coverage for the uninsured has become a cause celebre during the recent crisis, with hundreds of thousands of Americans losing their jobs and the percentage of Americans without insurance rising across multiple policy lines. -
FHA Loans Create Substantial Risk for Taxpayers
Publication -Research and Commentaries -The subprime crisis has spawned numerous calls for tightening the credit market and banking regulations, in a market that is already highly regulated. -
Credit Default Swaps
Publication -Research and Commentaries -First offered by JP Morgan in 1997, credit default swaps (CDS) are the most widely used type of credit derivative in the market and an influential force in the financial marketplace (http://www.investopedia.com/articles/optioninvestor/08/cds.asp? -
Worker’s Compensation Insurance
Publication -Research and Commentaries -Worker's Compensation insurance is a form of insurance that provides compensation for medical care for employees who are injured in the course of employment. -
Community Reinvestment Act: The Risk of Unintended Consequences
Publication -Research and Commentaries -As policymakers consider ways to address the current mortgage crisis, it is important to evaluate new proposals with an eye toward their future effects on the economy. -
Federal Deposit Insurance for the 21st Century
Publication -Research and Commentaries -A holdover from the 1930s-era New Deal programs, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) aims to limit the occurrence and mitigate the effects of bank closures.