Mark Anthony Calabria was the Director of the

Federal Housing Finance Agency The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is an independent federal agency in the United States created as the successor regulatory agency of the Federal Housing Finance Board (FHFB), the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO), ...

(FHFA). He was formerly the chief economist for Vice President

Mike Pence Michael Richard Pence (born June 7, 1959) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 48th vice president of the United States from 2017 to 2021 under President Donald Trump. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Repub ...

. President Biden removed him from the FHFA on June 23, 2021, following the Supreme Court decision in ''

Collins v. Yellen ''Collins v. Yellen'', 594 U.S. ___ (2021), was a United States Supreme Court case dealing with the structure of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). The case follows on the Court's prior ruling in ''Seila Law LLC v. Consumer Financial Prot ...

''.

Career

On February 9, 2017, Calabria was selected by Vice President

to serve as his chief economist. Before that, Calabria was the Director of Financial Regulation Studies at the

Cato Institute The Cato Institute is an American libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1977 by Ed Crane, Murray Rothbard, and Charles Koch, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Koch Industries.Koch ...

; a member of the senior staff of the

U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs The United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs (formerly the Committee on Banking and Currency), also known as the Senate Banking Committee, has jurisdiction over matters related to banks and banking, price controls, ...

, where he handled issues related to

housing Housing refers to a property containing one or more Shelter (building), shelter as a living space. Housing spaces are inhabited either by individuals or a collective group of people. Housing is also referred to as a human need and right to ...

mortgage A mortgage loan or simply mortgage (), in civil law (legal system), civil law jurisdictions known also as a hypothec loan, is a loan used either by purchasers of real property to raise funds to buy real estate, or by existing property owners t ...

finance Finance refers to monetary resources and to the study and Academic discipline, discipline of money, currency, assets and Liability (financial accounting), liabilities. As a subject of study, is a field of Business administration, Business Admin ...

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

banking A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

and

insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to protect ...

for Ranking Member

Richard Shelby Richard Craig Shelby (born May 6, 1934) is an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Alabama from 1987 to 2023. First elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986 as a Democrat, Shelby switched to the Republican Party i ...

; a staffer on the Senate Banking Committee under Chairman

Phil Gramm William Philip Gramm (born July 8, 1942) is an American economist and politician who represented Texas in both chambers of United States Congress, Congress. Though he began his political career as a Democratic Party (United States), Democrat, Gr ...

; and a Deputy Assistant Secretary for Regulatory Affairs at the U.S.

Department of Housing and Urban Development The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It administers federal housing and urban development laws. It is headed by the secretary of housing and u ...

. He also held a variety of positions at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

's Joint Center for Housing Studies, the

National Association of Home Builders The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) is one of the largest trade associations in the United States, representing the interests of home builders, developers, contractors, and associated businesses. NAHB is headquartered in Washington, D ...

, the

National Association of Realtors The National Association of Realtors (NAR) is an American trade association for those who work in the real estate industry. it had over 1.5 million members, making it the largest trade association in the United States including NAR's institute ...

and the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

's Center for Economic Studies. Calabria is a frequent commentator in the media. He has appeared on

C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American Cable television in the United States, cable and Satellite television in the United States, satellite television network, created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a Non ...

Book TV ''Book TV'' is the name given to weekend programming on the American cable network C-SPAN2, which airs from 8 a.m. Eastern Time Sunday morning to 8 a.m. Eastern Time Monday morning each week. The 24-hour block of programming is focused on no ...

CNBC CNBC is an American List of business news channels, business news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group, a unit of Comcast's NBCUniversal. The network broadcasts live business news and analysis programming during the morning, Day ...

the Kudlow Report ''The Kudlow Report'' was a news television program about business and politics hosted by Larry Kudlow, that aired on the CNBC television channel at 7pm ET until March 28, 2014. The show began airing on January 26, 2009. It was a successor to ...

& Street Signs,

Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

affiliate WTTG News,

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

affiliate

WDSU WDSU (channel 6) is a television station in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Hearst Television. The station's studios are located on Howard Avenue in the city's Central Business District, and its transmitte ...

News, and WOR's

Steve Malzberg Stephen D. Malzberg (; born April 20, 1959) is an American television and radio host, syndicated columnist, and political commentator. He hosted '' The Steve Malzberg Show'', a cable news and opinion show on Newsmax TV. He has also hosted ''The ...

Show. He has also written for ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'', ''

The San Diego Union-Tribune ''The San Diego Union-Tribune'' is a metropolitan daily newspaper published in San Diego, California, that has run since 1868. Its name derives from a 1992 merger between the two major daily newspapers at the time, ''The San Diego Union'' and ...

'', ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'', and the ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates three online sites: NYPost. ...

''. Calabria has also testified before Congress. In testimony before the

House Committee on Financial Services A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air c ...

in September 2009, he said that "the current

foreclosure Foreclosure is a legal process in which a lender attempts to recover the balance of a loan from a borrower who has Default (finance), stopped making payments to the lender by forcing the sale of the asset used as the Collateral (finance), coll ...

relief efforts have largely been unsuccessful because they have misidentified the underlying causes of mortgage default. It is not exploding

ARM In human anatomy, the arm refers to the upper limb in common usage, although academically the term specifically means the upper arm between the glenohumeral joint (shoulder joint) and the elbow joint. The distal part of the upper limb between ...

s or

predatory lending Predatory lending refers to unethical practices conducted by lending organizations during a loan origination process that are unfair, deceptive, or fraudulent. While there are no internationally agreed legal definitions for predatory lending, a 20 ...

that drives the current wave of foreclosures, but

negative equity Negative equity is a deficit of owner's equity, occurring when the value of an asset used to secure a loan is less than the outstanding balance on the loan. In the United States, assets (particularly real estate, whose loans are mortgages) with ...

driven by house prices declines coupled with adverse income shocks that are the main driver of defaults on primary residences." Calabria has been noted by the media for his pro-

free market In economics, a free market is an economic market (economics), system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of ...

views.

References

Testimony of Calabria before the House Committee on Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity
– September 9, 2009
Testimony of Calabria before the United States House Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law
– July 9, 2009

Notes

External links

FHFA biography

Mark Calabria Discusses the Credit Card Bill on CNBC, 5-20-09
*
The Cato Institute website – Washington, D.C.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Calabria, Mark A. Year of birth missing (living people) Living people George Mason University alumni George W. Bush administration personnel Cato Institute people First Trump administration personnel Federal Housing Finance Agency personnel