Dr. Joseph R. Mason
Hermann Moyse, Jr./Louisiana Bankers Association Chair of Banking, Louisiana State University and Senior Fellow, The Wharton School
masonjlsu.edu

EDUCATION:

Ph.D., M.S., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. B.S., Arizona
State University

BACKGROUND:

Dr. Mason is the Hermann Moyse, Jr./Louisiana Bankers Association Endowed Chair of Banking at the Ourso School of Business, Louisiana State University, a Senior Fellow at the Wharton School, and a Financial Industry Consultant for Empiris, LLC. Dr. Mason’s consulting practice provides firms with advice on financial, political, and legal risks in banking and finance. Dr. Mason has consulted on issues ranging from mortgage, home equity loan, home equity line of credit, auto, and credit card servicing, and securitization, to discrimination and disparate impact in consumer lending and insurance pricing, valuing distressed securities, the investor recoveries and efficient liquidations of bankrupt firms, and economic valuations of complex investment and lending arrangements involving asset-backed securities, collateralized debt obligations, and hedge funds.

Dr. Mason has consulted for and advised investment firms, corporations, and research institutions. In regulatory matters, Dr. Mason has testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee, the House Financial Services Committee, European Parliament, and the Federal Reserve Board and advised members of the British House of Lords and many regulatory organizations on structured finance. In litigation, he regularly serves as testifying or non-testifying expert on matters related to a wide variety of financial market-related claims. Dr. Mason’s academic research focuses primarily on investigating liquidity in thinly-traded assets and illiquid market conditions. Current academic research projects analyze default risk, including both immediate and cross-default risk, and default resolution costs in the contexts of asset-backed securities, in systemic and non-systemic environments, as well as the efficacy of bailout and resolution policies through the history of financial markets. His research and economic commentary has received hundreds of national and international press citations in publications such as the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Times, the Economist, Financial Times, Barrons, Business Week, die Zeit, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Financial Times-Germany, Los Echos, Forbes, Fortune, Portfolio Magazine, Bloomberg Magazine, American Banker, and on press syndicates such as Associated Press, Reuters, Bloomberg, KnightRidder, and MarketWatch-Dow Jones Newswire. He has been a frequent guest on CNBC and Bloomberg Television and has appeared on NBC News, CNN Headline News, CNBC Asia, National Public Radio, BBC Radio, Bloomberg Radio, and NBC Radio.

Professor Mason is a member of the American Finance Association, the Financial Management Association, the Cliometrics Society, the Economic History Association, Beta Gamma Sigma, and Omicron Delta Epsilon. Curriculum Vita.

ACADEMIC ARTICLES (Working Paper versions are available at Mason's SSRN Author Page):

“The Economic Impact of Eliminating Preemption of State Consumer Protection Laws,” (With Hal Singer and Rob Kulick), The University of Pennsylvania Journal of Business Law, (forthcoming). SSRN Working Paper: http://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=1476318, September 2009. This paper was listed on SSRN’s Top Ten download lists for Institutional Change & Economic Growth; Monetary Policy Objectives; Policy Designs; Policy Coordination; Other Microeconomics: Information, Specific Knowledge, & Uncertainty; Other Organizations & Markets: Incentives & Motivation; Perfect Competition; Studies of Particular Policy Episode; and Organizations & Markets: Incentives & Motivation, 10/16/2009; Economic Growth and Economic History, 10/20/2009;Search; Learning; Information Costs & Specific Knowledge, Expectation & Speculations; and Preemption, 10/22/2009; Economic History 10/24/2009; Administrative Law 11/08/2009; Economic Growth, and Legislation & Statutory Interpretation 11/14/2009; Monetary Economics, 11/20/2009; Legislation & Statutory Interpretation 11/23/2009; Consumer Law 12/06/2009.

“Regulating for Financial System Development, Financial Institutions Stability, and Financial Innovation,” in Financial Market Regulation after Financial Crises: The Historical Experience, Gianni Toniolo and Eugene White, eds. 2009, Rome: Banca d’Italia. This paper was listed on SSRN’s Top Ten download list for Professional & Practitioner Paper Series, 05/27/2009, 06/12/2009; and Securities Regulation, 06/24/2009.

“Cliff Risk and the Credit Crisis,” in The First Credit Market Turmoil of the 21st Century: Implications for Public Policy, Douglas Evanoff and George Kaufman, eds. London: World Scientific Publishers Co. Pte. Ltd., 2009 (forthcoming). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1296250. This paper was listed on SSRN’s Top Ten download list for Behavioral & Experimental Finance, 12/04/2008; SSRN’s Top Ten download list for Corporate Finance Journals, 12/12/2008, 01/04/2009, and 01/18/2009; SSRN’s Top Ten download list for Industrial Organization & Regulation Journals, 01/07/2009; and SSRN’s Top Ten download list for Corporate Finance Journals and Corporate, Securities & Finance Law Journals, 01/15/2009.

“Structuring for Leverage: CPDOs, SIVs, and ARSs,” in Prudent Lending Restored: Securitization after the 2007 Mortgage Securities Meltdown, part of the Brookings-Wharton Series on Financial Intermediaries, Robert Litan, Richard Herring, and Yasuyuki Fuchita, eds. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2008 (forthcoming). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1288051. This paper was listed on SSRN’s Top Ten download list for Financial Accounting, 12/13/2008 and 12/21/2008; and SSRN’s Top Ten download list for ARN Subject Matter eJournals and Accounting Research Network, 12/22/2008.

“The Evolution of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation as a Lender of Last Resort in the Great Depression,” in Bailouts and Government Rescues, Robert E. Wright, ed. New York: SSRC/Columbia University Press, 2009 (forthcoming).

“Fundamentals, Panics and Bank Distress during the Depression,” (with Charles Calomiris). Financial Crises: The International Library of Critical Writings in Economics. Franklin Allen, ed. London: Edward Elgar Publishers 2008.

“The Summer of ‘07 and the Shortcomings of Financial Innovation.” Journal of Applied Finance, Summer 2008.

“Resolving the Puzzle of the Underissuance of National Bank Notes.” (with Charles Calomiris). Explorations in Economic History, September 2008 (45:4), pp. 327-355. Previously circulated as Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia Working Paper #05-19 and as NBER Working Paper 10951, December 2004.

“Herding Behavior in Chinese Stock Markets: An Examination of A and B Shares,” (with Tom Chiang, Edward Nelling, and Lin Tan). Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, January 2008 (16: 1-2), pp. 61-77.

“Positive performance and private equity placements: Outside monitoring or inside expertise?” (with D. Marciukaityte, E. Higgins, and H. S. Friday). Journal of Real Estate Portfolio Management (13: 4), pp. 389-399.

“A Real Options Approach to Bankruptcy Costs: Evidence from Failed Commercial Banks during the 1990s.” Journal of Business, July 2005 (79:3), pp. 1523-53. This paper is a revised version of Wharton Financial Institutions Center Working Paper # 02-20. This paper was listed in the Social Science Research Network’s Top Ten Recent Download lists for Banking & Financial Institutions, Corporate Finance, and Derivatives, November 2002. An earlier version also circulated on the Social Science Research Network as “What Do We Know about Bankrupt Firm Liquidation Rates? Evidence from Commercial Bank Liquidations during the 1930s and 1990s.”

“Bank Asset Liquidation and the Propagation of the Great Depression,” (with Ali Anari and James Kolari). Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking, August 2005 (37:4), pp. 753-773. This paper is a revised version of Wharton Financial Institutions Center Working Paper # 02-35. This paper was listed in the Social Science Research Network’s Top Ten All Time Download and Top Ten Recent Download lists for Banking & Insurance Abstracts, October 2002, and the Top Ten Recent Download list for Economic History, November 2002.

“Credit Card Securitization and Regulatory Arbitrage,” (with Charles Calomiris). Journal of Financial Services Research, August 2004 (26:1), pp. 5-27 (lead article). This paper is a revised version of Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia Working Paper no. 03-7, April 2003.

“What is the Value of Recourse to Asset Backed Securities? A Study of Credit Card Bank ABS Rescues,” (with Eric Higgins). Journal of Banking and Finance, April 2004 (28:4), pp. 857-874. This paper is a revised version of Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia Working Paper no. 03-06, April 2003.

“Fundamentals, Panics and Bank Distress during the Depression,” (with Charles Calomiris). American Economic Review, December 2003 (93:5), pp. 1615-1647. This paper is a revised version of NBER Working Paper no. 7919, September 2000. This paper was listed in the Social Science Research Network’s Top Ten Recent Download list for Economic History, January 2003.

“Too-big-to-fail, Government Bailouts, and Managerial Incentives: The Case of Reconstruction Finance Corporation Assistance to the Railroad Industry during the Great Depression,” (with Daniel Schiffman). In Too-Big-To Fail: Policies and Practices in Government Bailouts, Benton E. Gup, ed. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2003, pp. 49-75.

“How to Restructure Failed Banking Systems: Lessons from the U.S. in the 1930s and Japan in the 1990s,” (with Charles Calomiris). In Privatization, Corporate Governance and Transition Economies in East Asia, Takatoshi Ito and Anne Krueger, eds. Chicago: University of Chicago Press 2004, pp. 375-420.

“Consequences of U.S. Bank Distress during the Great Depression.” (with Charles Calomiris). American Economic Review, June 2003 (93:3), pp. 937-947.

“The Political Economy of RFC Assistance during the Great Depression.” Explorations in Economic History, April 2003 (40:2), pp. 101-121.

“Do Lender of Last Resort Policies Matter? The Effects of Reconstruction Finance Corporation Assistance to Banks.” Journal of Financial Services Research, September 2001 (20:1), pp. 77-95.

“Reconstruction Finance Corporation Assistance to Financial Institutions and Commercial & Industrial Enterprise in the US Great Depression, 1932 – 1937.” In Resolution of Financial Distress, Stijn Claessens, Simeon Djankov, and Ashoka Mody, eds. Washington: World Bank Press, 2001, pp. 167-204.

“Demographics and Personal Bankruptcies.” Research in Banking and Finance, November 2000 (1:1), pp. 229-257.

“High-LTV Lending: Problem or Cure?” (with Charles Calomiris). Journal of Lending & Credit Risk Management, September 1998, pp. 39-43.

“Contagion and Bank Failures during the Great Depression: The Chicago Banking Panic of June 1932,” (with Charles Calomiris). American Economic Review, December 1997 (87:5), pp. 863-884. This paper is a revised version of NBER Working Paper no. 4934, November 1994.

PUBLISHED CONGRESSIONAL AND REGULATORY TESTIMONY AND BRIEFS:

Testimony before the United States Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee, “The Economic Policy Risks of Cap and Trade Markets for Carbon Emissions,” (September 15, 2009).

Testimony before the United States House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, The Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law, “Role of the Lending Industry in the Home Foreclosure Crisis,” (September 9, 2009)

Testimony before the Congress of the United States Joint Economic Committee, “Current Trends in Foreclosure and What More Can Be Done To Prevent Them.” (July 28, 2009).

Robert Litan, Joseph Mason, and Ian Ayres as Amici Curiae Supporting Petitioners, on Writ of Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, in the Supreme Court of the United States, Jerry N. Jones, Mary F. Jones, and Arline Winerman, Petitioners, v. Harris Associates L.P., Respondent. June 17, 2009.

Testimony before the Congress of the United States Joint Economic Committee, “Restoring the Economy: Strategies for Short-term and Long-term Change,” (February 26, 2009).

Testimony before the European Parliament, Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee, “Workshop on the Credit Rating Agencies,” (December 4, 2008, Brussels).

Testimony before the United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance, and Investments, “Transparency in Accounting: Proposed Changes to Accounting for Off-balance Sheet Entities” (September 18, 2008).

Testimony before the United States Senate Judiciary Committee on the Judiciary, “The Looming Foreclosure Crisis: How to Help Families Save Their Homes, “(December 5, 2007).

Testimony before the United States House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services, Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government Sponsored Enterprises, “Hearing on the Role of Credit Rating Agencies in the Structured Finance Market,” (September 27, 2007).

Testimony before the Federal Reserve Board, “Hearing on the Home Equity Lending Market and Regulation under the Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act,” (June 13, 2007).

PROFESSIONAL PUBLICATIONS:

“CDS: Still Not Ready for Prime Time.” Bank Accounting and Finance, Fall 2008.

“A Real Options Approach to Valuing Life Settlements Transactions.” Journal of Financial Transformation, September 2008.

“Why ABS and CDO Ratings Substantially Differ from Corporate Bond Ratings.” Bank Structure and Competition Conference Proceedings. Chicago: Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, May 2008.

“The (Continuing) Information Problems in Structured Finance.” Journal of Structured Finance. Spring 2008, v. 14 no. 1, pp. 1-11 (lead article).

“Credit Card Securitization, Recourse, and Regulatory Arbitrage,” (with Eric Higgins and Charles Calomiris). Bank Structure and Competition Conference Proceedings. Chicago: Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, May 2003, pp. 471-492.

“A Real Options Approach to Bankruptcy Costs: Evidence from Failed Commercial Banks during the 1990s.” Bank Structure and Competition Conference Proceedings. Chicago: Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, May 2002, pp. 108-128.

“Causes of U.S. Bank Distress during the Great Depression,” (with Charles Calomiris). Bank Structure and Competition Conference Proceedings. Chicago: Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, May 2001, pp. 530-554.

“Contagion and Bank Failures during the Great Depression: The Chicago Banking Panic of June 1932,” (with Charles Calomiris). In The Regulation and Supervision of Banks. Maximilian J. B. Hall, ed. London: Edward Elgar Publishers 2000.

“The Speed of Bank Liquidation and the Propagation of the U.S. Great Depression,” (with Ali Anari and James Kolari). Bank Structure and Competition Conference Proceedings. Chicago: Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, May 2000, pp. 320-345.

High-LTV Lending: Problem or Cure? (with Charles Calomiris). Washington: American Enterprise Institute, 1998. Published in Journal of Lending & Credit Risk Management, September 1998, pp. 39-43.

“Contagion and Bank Failures during the Great Depression: The Chicago Banking Panic of June 1932,” (with Charles Calomiris). Bank Structure and Competition Conference Proceedings. Chicago: Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, May 1995, pp. 110-122.

“Savings Banks.” Dictionary of American Economic History, Charles Scribner’s & Sons: Boston, 2002.

“American Banks during the Great Depression.” Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Review. May/June 1998.

“The Effects of Branching on Illinois Banks.” Illinois Business Review. Winter 1994.

“A Guide to Monthly Retail Sales Statistics.” Illinois Business Review. Fall 1992.

WORKING PAPERS AND WORK IN PROGRESS:

Asset-Backed Securities

“Asset Sales, Recourse, and Investor Reactions to Initial Securitizations: Evidence why Off-balance Sheet Accounting Treatment does not Remove On-balance Sheet Financial Risk,” (with Eric Higgins and Adi Mordel). SSRN Working Paper: http://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=1107074, May 2009 (under review at Journal of Banking and Finance, June 2009). This paper was listed in the Social Science Research Network’s Top Ten download list for Accounting Research Centers Papers, Corporate Governance & Accounting; and Financial Economics Newtork Professional & Practitioner Paper Series, 10/12, 2009; Corporate Governance & Accounting 10/17/2009; Finance Research Centers Papers 10/24/2009; Corporate Governance & Accounting 10/25/2009; Financial Accounting 11/12/2009, 11/20/2009; ARN Subject Matter eJournals and Accounting Research Network 12/01/2009, 12/04/2009.

“Deriving Credit Portfolio Correlation Properties from Large Asset-backed Security Pools,” (with Eric Higgins). Drexel University Working Paper, February 2006 (under review at Journal of Financial Services Research, July 2009)

“The Information Content of Asset Backed Securities Downgrades and the Motivation behind Them,” (with Eric Higgins and Adi Mordel). Louisiana State University Working Paper, July 2009.

“Subprime Servicer Reporting Can Do More for Modification than Government Subsidies,” SSRN Working Paper: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1361331, March 2009. This paper was listed in the Social Science Research Network’s Top Ten All Time Download and Top Ten Recent Download lists for Law Research Centers Papers, April 2009; Top Ten Download list for Law School Research Papers - Law & Economics, May 2009; Top Ten download list for Other Consumer Credit Issues, Consumer Credit Issues, Consumer Credit & Payment Issues and ERN Public Policy Centers Research Papers, March 2009; Top Ten download list for Public Economics Journals May 2009; Top Ten download list for LSN: Other Consumer Credit Issues August 28, 2009, and the Financial Economics Network Top Ten All Time Download list for Professional & Practitioner Papers, April 2009.

“Mortgage Loan Modification: Promises and Pitfalls,” SSRN Working Paper: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1027470, October 2007. Featured in the Economist Magazine, Buttonwood column, October 11, 2007.

“Where Did the Risk Go? How Misapplied Bond Ratings Cause Mortgage Backed Securities and Collateralized Debt Obligation Market Disruptions,” (with Joshua Rosner). SSRN Working Paper: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1027475, May 2007.

“How Resilient Are Mortgage Backed Securities to Collateralized Debt Obligation Market Disruptions?” (with Joshua Rosner). SSRN Working Paper: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1027472, February 2007.

Economic and Financial Distress:

“How Much of a Haircut? Options-Based Structural Modeling of Defaulted Bond Recovery Rates,” (with Robert Cangemi and Michael Pagano). Wharton Financial Institutions Center Working Paper #06-18, August 2006 (under review at Journal of Financial Intermediation).

“Real and Financial Effects of Bank Failures in the Great Depression,” (with Charles Calomiris).

“Reconstruction Finance Corporation Lending and Recapitalization Programs in the Great Depression,” (with Charles Calomiris and Mark Weidenmier).

“Rational Divestiture in Real Options-based Liquidation Cycles: Evidence from Failed Bank Assets in the Great Depression,” (with Charles Calomiris).

“Bank Panics and Liquidation Cycles,” (with Scott Redenius).

Profit and Cost Efficiency

“Is Bank Efficiency Cyclical? The Relationship between Economic and Financial Market Conditions and Bank Performance,” (with Yi-Kai Chen and Eric Higgins) Drexel University Working Paper, January 2005 (awaiting revision).

“Economies of Scale in the Banking Industry: The Effects of Loan Specialization,” (with Yi-Kai Chen and Eric Higgins) Drexel University Working Paper, December 2004 (awaiting revision).

Other Topics

 “Reserve Supply and Demand in the National Banking Era,” (with Charles Calomiris and David Wheelock).

“Corporate Governance in Failed Banks,” (with David Becher).

“Disparate Impact in Mortgage Prepayment Rates: Evidence from FHA Mortgage Data,” (with Charles Calomiris).

LINKS:

Libraries/Reference

American Bar Association Home Page
Common Errors in English
Developing a Thesis Statement
Library of Congress Online Catalog 
Penn Library-Lippincott Library Home Page 
Powell's Books - Used, New, and Out of Print

Weather

Unisys Main Weather Page (Lots of resources)
Unisys Surface Data Details (More extensive and educational)
Unisys WXP Weather Map (My favorite)
Weather Underground-Philadelphia (Forecasts)

Economics and Banking  

Bank for International Settlements (BIS)
CAPCO Risk Solutions
China Securities Regulatory Commission
European Central Bank (ECB) 
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
FFIEC Report Forms
FFIEC QIS4 Page
Federal Reserve System
Federal Reserve System Financial Services (Payment System Information)
Financial Services Agency (Japan) 
OECD (OECD publications and economic data)
Office of the Comptroller of the Currency
Securities and Exchange Commission

American Bankers Association (ABA)
American Banker® Online
Bank Administration Institute (BAI) 
Bankruptcy Statistics from the American Bankruptcy Institute
Bond Market Association
Brookings Institution
Conference of State Bank Supervisors
Credit Card Industry (RamResearch)
Credit Card Management Web Site
Depository Trust Corp.
Dynamic Yield Curve - StockCharts.Com 
Economist Magazine   
Faulkner & Gray
Financial Engineering News
Fitch Investors Service
Inside Mortgage Finance (Inside ABS and MBS)
International Swaps and Derivatives Association 
Mortgage Bankers of America (MBAA)
National Bureau of Economic Research
Resources for Economists on the Internet
SSRN: Social Science Research Network
Stock Futures and Options Magazine
Two and One Dimensional Brownian Motion
World Bank Financial Videos
Yahoo! Finance  

Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia - Payment Cards Center
Penn Library-Lippincott Library Home Page 
Penn Economics Workshops Page 
Wharton Finance Department
Wharton Financial Institutions Center
Wharton Research Data Services - Members Login 
Wharton White Macro Finance Seminar 
Wharton White Micro Finance Seminar 

Chronicle of Higher Education
Financial Management Association (FMA)
Job Openings for Economists (JOE's)
Social Science Research Network (SSRN)
Journal of Finance
Economic History Organizations

Other

SmarTraveler Philadelphia Map
USNO Master Time Clock
 

E. J. Ourso College of Business
Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, LA 70803

RFC Research Documents (Password Protected)