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Washington, D.C. – The Cato Institute announced today that Mark Calabria, former director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and chief economist to Vice President Mike Pence, has returned to the Cato Institute as a senior advisor.

In addition, Norbert Michel has joined the Institute as vice president and director of Cato’s Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives. George Selgin, founding director of the center, will move to the role of director emeritus and senior fellow.

“With these key hires Cato is fulfilling its promise to dedicate additional resources to defending free market economics at a time when fewer voices are doing so. It also boosts our work advocating for alternative approaches in key areas, such as monetary policy, where our country’s current path is so concerning,“ said Peter Goettler, president and CEO of the Cato Institute. “Mark and Norbert’s experience will contribute to an expansion of our outreach and engagement, a powerful complement to George’s outstanding scholarship in the monetary realm. I’m thrilled they are here.”

Calabria had served as director of financial regulation studies at Cato from 2009 to 2017. Before joining Cato, he spent seven years as a member of the senior professional staff of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Prior to his service on Capitol Hill, Calabria served as deputy assistant secretary for regulatory affairs at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and 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. Calabria has also been a research associate with the U.S. Census Bureau’s Center for Economic Studies.

In Calabria’s role as Chief Economist to Vice President Mike Pence, he led the Vice President’s work on taxes, trade, labor, financial services, manufacturing and general economic issues, including serving as a key member of the team that enacted the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, and the United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement. During his service at FHFA, Calabria worked to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and oversaw a significant decline in those agency’s leverage ratios. He holds a doctorate in economics from George Mason University.

Michel most recently served as director of the Heritage Foundation’s Center for Data Analysis, where he focused on issues relating to financial markets and monetary policy. His recent work has covered inflation, price controls, the Federal Reserve, ESG policy, and digital currencies.

Michel also served on the financial services policy implementation team, as part of the transition following the 2016 election. Prior to joining the Heritage Foundation, Michel was a tenured professor of economics, finance, and statistics at Nicholls State University’s College of Business in Louisiana. Michel received his Ph.D. in financial economics from the University of New Orleans.