Christopher "Chris" J. Mayer (born c. 1965) is an
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
economist. He is the
Paul Milstein Professor of
real estate at
Columbia Business School
Columbia Business School (CBS) is the business school of Columbia University, a Private university, private research university in New York City. Established in 1916, Columbia Business School is one of six Ivy League business schools and is one ...
, where he is also the research director of the Paul Milstein Center for Real Estate. He has also been a
visiting scholar at the
Federal Reserve Bank of New York
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York is one of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks of the United States. It is responsible for the Second District of the Federal Reserve System, which encompasses the State of New York, the 12 northern counties of New ...
, and
research associate at the
National Bureau of Economic Research.
Education and other work
Mayer received a
BA in math and economics from the
University of Rochester in 1987 and a
PhD PHD or PhD may refer to:
* Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification
Entertainment
* '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series
* ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic
* Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group
** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...
in economics from
MIT in 1993.
Mayer serves on the board of editors of ''Real Estate Economics'' and the ''
Journal of Urban Economics'' and is a
Fellow of the
Homer Hoyt Institute
Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...
. He also works as part-time research director and member of the
board of directors
A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...
of Oak Hill REIT Management, a
REIT hedge fund. Mayer previously held positions at the
Wharton School, the
University of Michigan, and the
Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, commonly known as the Boston Fed, is responsible for the First District of the Federal Reserve, which covers New England: Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont and all of Connecticut except ...
.
[
]
Home mortgage interest rate proposal
In October 2008, Mayer introduced a proposal with colleague Glenn Hubbard to ameliorate the effects of the Financial crisis of 2007–2008 by offering home owners the opportunity to refinance their home mortgage at an interest rate of 5.25%.[
] (By December, they had adjusted the proposed rate down to 4.5%.)[
]
Mayer and Hubbard argued that the opportunity to refinance household debt
Household debt is the combined debt of all people in a household, including consumer debt and mortgage loans. A significant rise in the level of this debt coincides historically with many severe economic crises and was a cause of the U.S. and su ...
at a low rate would improve both household and financial institution balance sheets which would then result in increased investment and consumer spending, mitigating the extent of the financial crisis. The proposal was subsequently debated in '' The Wall Street Journal'',[ '' The New York Times'', NPR, and Bloomberg News. On December 12, 2008, Bloomberg News reported that President-Elect Barack Obama's economic team had expressed interest in the plan and White House economic chief Lawrence Summers had attempted to flesh out the details of the plan with Mayer and Hubbard.]
References
External links
Faculty page at Columbia Business School
Paul Milstein Center for Real Estate
Scholar page at the Social Science Research Network
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mayer, Christopher J.
Columbia University faculty
Columbia Business School faculty
1960s births
Living people
21st-century American economists
MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences alumni
University of Rochester alumni
American corporate directors
University of Pennsylvania people
Federal Reserve Bank people
University of Michigan faculty