Benedict Guttman-Kenney

Academic Research Page, Policy Research Page, Presentations Page

 News

In March, I released a new working paper studying immigration and consumer credit in America.

I will be presenting my behavioral research, studying how consumers respond to gas (petrol) price changes, at the Behavioral Science & Policy Association (Online) Conference at 1.15pm CT on Thursday 1 May 2025.

In February, I uploaded a new version of my working paper, Disaster Flags: Credit Reporting Relief from Natural Disasters, that studies the implications of removing information on missed payments in consumer credit reports during natural disasters. I will be presenting this research at the NYU Stern Climate Finance Conference on 23 May 2025.

I will be presenting an updated version of my working paper, studying the effects of a Quebec government policy that restricts credit card repayment choices, at the Boulder Conference on Consumer Financial Decision Making 28-30 May 2025.

I will be presenting my research at the Federal Reserve Board's Applied Microeconomics seminar on 30th June and at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia's Consumer Finance Institute seminar on 9th September. Let me know if you are in DC or Philadelphia around those dates.

In March, my credit card research: The Semblance of Success in Nudging Consumers to Pay Down Credit Card Debt was published in the American Economic Journal: Economic Policy (Open Access link). This paper has been covered by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and Yahoo! Finance. Summarized in Chicago Booth Review Article and also covered in various blogs (1) (2) (3) (4).

In April, I spoke with Yahoo! Finance about retirement savings decisions following the recent stock market crash. In March, I was on Houston Public Media's Houston Matters radio show speaking about payday lending (I'm on about 17 minutes in). In February, I chatted with NPR Marketplace about households' emergency savings.

Yahoo! Finance recently covered my research on why information on how much you pay on your credit card is missing from your US credit report. 

Last September, my paper on consumer credit reporting data was published in the Journal of Economic Literature. This paper reviews the economics of these data and includes practical guidance for researchers on how to use these datasets.

 Background

Before moving to Chicago for my Ph.D., I spent six years conducting economic research informing financial regulation at the UK Financial Conduct Authority, Bank of England, and Federal Reserve Bank of New York. I am a graduate of the University of Warwick and University College London. While studying for my Ph.D., I received the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) Consumer Finance Dissertation Fellowship for my research. I have studied a variety of aspects of household finances including buy now pay later (BNPL), credit cards, credit files, and payday loans.

Media coverage includes The New York Times, The Financial Times (1 - weekend lead `big read') (2 - FT Tech video) (3 - front page), Wall Street Journal (1) (2), Houston Public Media, NPR - National Public Radio (1) (2), Yahoo! Finance (1) (2) (3), Barron's, BBC, MarketWatch, Mashable, Fast Company, Raconteur, The Telegraph (1) (2), The FinTech Times, VoxEU/CEPR interview. 

My academic research has been published in leading finance, marketing, and economics journals with summaries in the Chicago Booth Review. For more information see my academic research page, CV, or Google Scholar.