The accounts of the unbanked and underbanked (with Paola Boel, Geena Panzitta and Daniela Puzzello)
Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland Economic Commentary 2026-02.
We conducted focus groups with financially underserved Americans to learn more about how they manage their money. We spoke with 36 unbanked and underbanked individuals in Houston, Texas, and Cleveland, Ohio, about how they make and receive payments, the challenges they encounter in managing their finances, and how these experiences shape their views of financial service providers. While several participants described negative experiences with bank fees and concerns about security vulnerabilities, they acknowledged that alternative financial service providers were not always adequate substitutes.
Why worry about financial exclusion? (with Paola Boel)
Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland Economic Commentary 2022-09.
Should policymakers aim to expand access to bank accounts? When financial exclusion is due to frictions that prevent banking from operating efficiently, intervention may be justified. Applying simple economic principles, we highlight such potential frictions, and we assess their importance using insights from data and the academic and policy literature.
Unbanked in America: a review of the literature (with Paola Boel)
Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland Economic Commentary 2022-07.
Cited by Ranking Member of US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs and by Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Coverage in Signal Cleveland.
We review the recent literature on the causes and consequences of financial exclusion—that is, the lack of bank account ownership—in the United States. We examine existing work in a range of fields, including economics, finance, public policy, and sociology.
The cheque republic: money in a modern economy with no banks (with Ben Norman)
‘Bank Underground’ blog 2016.
Coverage in Business Insider.
What happens when a country’s banking system shuts down? In 1970, the main banks in the Republic of Ireland closed for several months. We find that contemporary material from the Bank of England's archive suggests that this event may have been more economically damaging than has been thought. We compare this incident to the closure of Greek banks in 2015.
Market discipline, public disclosure and financial stability (with Rhiannon Sowerbutts)
Chapter in ‘The handbook of post-crisis financial modelling’ 2015, eds Haven, Molyneux, Wilson, Fedotov and Duygun, Palgrave Macmillan.
Inadequate disclosure by commercial banks has been cited as a contributing factor to the global financial crisis. We discuss the economic literature and the limits of market discipline.
The expectation that governments will bail out troubled banks provides an implicit subsidy to the banking system, worth as much as £100bn in the UK. Who exactly benefits from this subsidy? Our analysis suggests that bank owners and staff extract the most benefit, with customers and creditors gaining relatively little.
Disclosure and market discipline (with Rhiannon Sowerbutts and Ilknur Zer)
Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin 2013, vol. 53, no. 4.
We measure public disclosure by banks over time. Internationally, disclosure has improved since 2000. However, more information alone is not sufficient to guarantee that market discipline fulfills its role.
Shorter version in a 2014 Vox article.
The economics of large-value payments and settlement: theory and policy issues for central banks (contributor)
Oxford University Press 2009.
First comprehensive guide to the theory and practice of large-value payment systems.
Slides for a presentation to students at Case Western in 2022 entitled "Making cryptocurrencies into money" can be found here.