Sendhil Mullainathan Appointed as the CFPB’s Assistant Director for Research

Treasury just announced that Sendhil Mullainathan is the new Assistant Director for Research at the CFPB.  He will lead the work in its Office of Research.  This is big news for anyone interested in behaviorally informed policymaking.  Mullainathan is a well-respected Harvard economist in behavioral economics and is known for conducting research and applying the findings to actual international development programs and domestic consumer finance policies.  He’s got everything from a MacAuthur Foundation “genius award” to a TED fellowship on his resume.  Of course, I’m sure he’ll count his ties to the New America Foundation amongst his most honored accomplishments.  In October 2008, Mullainathan co-authored a New America publication, Behaviorally Informed Financial Services Regulation, along with Michel Barr and Eldar Shafir, and presented at our Behavioral Economics and Policy Meeting. 

The appointment of Mullainathan at the CFPB is another step towards the establishment of new generation of policymakers that are finding ways to design policies for real people in real communities.  As I mentioned last week in a blog from the Federal Reserve Community Affairs Research Conference, there is a great need for more research and data to understand why people make seemingly irrational choices and whether those choices are predictable when incorporating cognitive and emotional considerations.  Closing that gap requires researchers having the foresight to recognize the importance of human behaviors in policymaking.  Mullainathan has blazed the trail for behaviorally informed policymaking through his research in the academic world.  I look forward to seeing him leverage that experience in his new role at the CFPB.