Todd Zywicki

Todd Zywicki

  • Mercatus Center Senior Scholar
  • GMU Foundation Professor of Law, George Mason University School of Law

Todd J. Zywicki is George Mason University Foundation Professor of Law at George Mason University School of Law and senior scholar of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.  In 2009, Professor Zywicki was honored as the recipient of the Institute for Humane Studies 2009 Charles G. Koch Outstanding IHS Alum Award. 

Since 2006 he has served as co-editor of the Supreme Court Economic Review.  From 2003-2004, Professor Zywicki served as the director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission.  He teaches in the area of bankruptcy, contracts, commercial law, business associations, law & economics, and public choice and the law.  He has also taught at Vanderbilt University Law School, Georgetown University Law Center, Boston College Law School, and Mississippi College School of Law.

Professor Zywicki clerked for Judge Jerry E. Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and worked as an associate at Alston & Bird in Atlanta, Georgia, where he practiced bankruptcy and commercial law. He received his J.D. from the University of Virginia, where he was executive editor of the Virginia Tax Review and John M. Olin Scholar in Law and Economics.  Professor Zywicki also received an M.A. in Economics from Clemson University and an A.B. cum laude with high honors in his major from Dartmouth College.

Professor Zywicki is a senior fellow of the James Buchanan Center for Political Economy Program on Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, at George Mason University, a senior fellow of the Goldwater Institute, and a fellow of the International Centre for Economic Research in Turin, Italy.  During the fall 2008 semester Professor Zywicki was the Searle Fellow of the George Mason University School of Law and was a 2008-09 W. Glenn Campbell and Rita Ricardo-Campbell National Fellow and the Arch W. Shaw National Fellow at the the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace at Stanford University. 

He has lectured and consulted with government officials around the world, including Iceland, Italy, Japan, and Guatemala.  In 2006 Professor Zywicki served as a member of the United States Department of Justice Study Group on "Identifying Fraud, Abuse and Errors in the United States Bankruptcy System."

Professor Zywicki is the author of more than 70 articles in leading law reviews and peer-reviewed economics journals.  He is one of the Top 50 Most Downloaded Law Authors at the Social Science Research Network, both all time and during the past twelve months.  He served as the editor of the Supreme Court Economic Review from 2001-02.  He has testified several times before Congress on issues of consumer bankruptcy law and consumer credit and is a frequent commentator on legal issues in the print and broadcast media, including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Washington Times, Forbes, Nightline, The Newshour with Jim Lehrer, Fox and Friends, Fox Business, CNN, CNBC, Bloomberg News, BBC, ABC Radio, The Diane Rehm Show, Lou Dobbs Radio Show, Neil Caputo Show, and The Laura Ingraham Show.  He is a contributor to the popular legal blog The Volokh Conspiracy and The Atlantic magazine's The Atlantic Business Channel.

Professor Zywicki is a member of the Governing Board and the Advisory Council for the Financial Services Research Program at George Washington University School of Business, the Board of Directors of  the The Bill of Rights Institute, the Executive Committee for the Federalist Society's Financial Institutions and E-Commerce Practice Group, the Advisory Council of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the Program Advisory Board of the Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment (FREE), and the Advisory Council of the Centro para el Analisis de las Decisiones Publicas, Universidad de Francisco Marroquin, Guatemala City, Guatemala (Public Choice Center at University of Francisco Marroquin) .  He is currently the Chair of the Academic Advisory Council for the following organizations: The Bill of Rights Institute, the film “We the People in IMAX,” and the McCormick-Tribune Foundation “Freedom Museum” in Chicago, Illinois.  From 2005-2009 he served as an elected Alumni Trustee of the Dartmouth College Board of Trustees.  In 2009 he was elected to the Board of Trustees of Yorktown University.

PUBLISHED RESEARCH

Journal Article

Financial Services and E-Commerce

Todd Zywicki | Jun 01, 2008
This article by Todd Zywicki examines the call for regulatory changes on credit cards.

WORKING PAPERS

Consumer Welfare and the Regulation of Title Pledge Lending image

Consumer Welfare and the Regulation of Title Pledge Lending

Todd Zywicki | Sep 2009
In recent years, there has been growth in nontraditional lending products such as payday lending and auto title lending, and a relative decline of others, such as finance companies and pawnbrokers. Meanwhile, the onset of the financial crisis has spurred renewed scrutiny of nontraditional lending products, even though there is…

The Housing Market Crash image

The Housing Market Crash

Widespread foreclosures and the collapse in home prices in many areas of the United States that began in 2007 and continued through 2008 and 2009, spawned an ongoing global financial crisis. As a result, the United States has engineered a series of unprecedented market interventions designed to stabilize the housing market and the financial markets dependent on mortgage-backed securities. However, standard economics provides a compelling explanation for much of the increase in household mortgage obligations. This working paper focuses on underlying questions related to consumer behavior and looks at the impact of these developments in the housing market on household financial condition.

The Case Against New Restrictions on Payday Lending image

The Case Against New Restrictions on Payday Lending

Todd Zywicki | Jul 2009
In the wake of the financial crisis, Congress and federal regulators have moved aggressively to impose new regulations on a variety of consumer credit products. Thus far, Congress has focused on mortgages and credit cards, which have seen record high default rates in recent months. However, Congress is also considering…

POLICY BRIEFS

The Case Against New Restrictions on Payday Lending image

The Case Against New Restrictions on Payday Lending

Todd Zywicki, Astrid Arca | Jan 11, 2010
In the wake of the financial crisis, Congress is considering new regulations on non-traditional lending products like payday lending, although there is no evidence that such products were related in any way to the financial crisis. If enacted, the principal legislation, H.R. 1214 (the Payday Loan Reform Act of 2009), would limit the charge for a single-payment loan to an effective 391 percent annual rate ($15 per $100 two-week loan). H.R. 1214 also purports to limit borrowers to one loan at a time from a single lender, prohibit rollovers, and limit borrowers to one extended repayment plan every six months. Economic theory and empirical evidence strongly suggests that these paternalistic regulations would make consumers worse off by limiting their choices to unappealing alternatives.

Potential Restrictions on Title Lending image

Potential Restrictions on Title Lending

One can hardly turn on a TV without seeing commercials in which cash-strapped individuals bring their car titles to a lender for quick and easy loans. While auto title lending may appear to be somewhat sketchy, it is actually a relatively safe and important source of credit for many Americans. However, current state legislation and a proposed federal rule seek to restrict this practice, with the very aim of protecting borrowers. This misguided paternalism will instead cut many people off from much-needed cash, encourage other, more dangerous lending practices, and potentially lead to other detrimental outcomes such as bounced checks or bankruptcy.

Loans are not Toasters: The Problems with a Consumer Financial Protection Agency image

Loans are not Toasters: The Problems with a Consumer Financial Protection Agency

In an effort to correct problems that led to the current housing and mortgage crisis, policy makers have proposed a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA) that would have the authority to regulate the terms of credit products offered to consumers. The agency's premise is based on the assumption that subprime mortgages are faulty products in need of a recall, similar to faulty consumer products like toasters. This foundation is a simplistic, one-sided view of a dynamic situation.

TESTIMONY & COMMENTS

Congressional Testimony

The Condition of Small Business and Commercial Real Estate Lending in Local Markets

Testimony Before the United States House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services Committee on Small Business
Todd Zywicki | Feb 26, 2010
In this testimony before the House Financial Services Committee, Prof. Todd Zywicki discusses the negative impact of recently-enacted and contemplated future legislation in interfering with a wellfunctioning lending market and in creating an environment of uncertainty that discourages lending.

Congressional Testimony

Banking Industry Perspectives on the Obama Administration’s Financial Regulatory Reform Proposals

Testimony Before the United States House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services
Todd Zywicki | Jul 15, 2009
Todd Zywicki's remarks before the House Financial Services Committee primarily address the Obama Administration's proposal to create a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA), which would have the authority to issue and enforce new regulations related to consumer lending products.

Congressional Testimony

Circuit City Unplugged: Did Chapter 11 Fail to Save 34,000 Jobs?

Todd Zywicki | Mar 11, 2009
Todd J. Zywicki, Professor of Law at George Mason University and a Senior Scholar at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, testified on whether the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 to the Bankruptcy Code, failed to foster successful reorganizations.

MEDIA CLIPPINGS

The Washington Times

Bank reforms to pinch consumer credit

Todd Zywicki | Jul 29, 2010
Todd Zywicki was quoted on swipe-fee restrictions in The Washington Times.

WBUR Radio

Pension Envy, Pension Crisis

Todd Zywicki | Jul 28, 2010
Todd Zywicki was on WBUR discussing the pension crisis.

Boston Business Journal

Debit Amendment Runs Into Buzz Saw of Opposition

Todd Zywicki | Jun 14, 2010
Todd Zywicki's paper on interchange fees appears in the Business dailies of numerous cities.