Mark A. Calabria

Mark A. Calabria, Ph.D., is Director of Financial Regulation Studies at the Cato Institute. He was a member of the senior staff of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs where he handled issues related to housing, mortgage finance, economics, banking and insurance for Ranking Member Richard Shelby. Calabria previously served as staff on the Senate Banking Committee under Chairman Phil Gramm. Calabria has served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Regulatory Affairs at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and also held a variety of positions at Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies, the National Association of Home Builders and the National Association of Realtors. He was a Research Associate with the U.S. Census Bureau's Center for Economic Studies.
Calabria has testified before Congressand has appeared on C-SPAN's Book TV discussing "How America's Infatuation with Home Ownership and Easy Money Created the Economic Crisis". He has written for Forbes, San Diego Union-Tribune, The Wall Street Journal (Online), and the New York Post. He has discussed related issues on CNBC's The Kudlow Report & Street Signs, Fox affiliate WTTG News, NBC affiliate WDSU News, and WOR's The Steve Malzberg Show.
In his testimony before the House Committee on Financial Services in September 2009, Calabria stated that, "the current foreclosure relief efforts have largely been unsuccessful because they have misidentified the underlying causes of mortgage default. It is not exploding ARMs or predatory lending that drives the current wave of foreclosures, but negative equity driven by house prices declines coupled with adverse income shocks that are the main driver of defaults on primary residences."