Christopher Mayer

Biography

Christopher Mayer is the Paul Milstein Professor of Real Estate at Columbia Business School. His research explores a variety of topics in real estate and financial markets, including housing cycles, mortgage markets, debt securitization, and commercial real estate valuation. Dr. Mayer is also CEO of Longbridge Financial, an innovative reverse mortgage company focused on delivering responsible home equity products to older Americans to help finance retirement. Professor Mayer serves as a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, a Director of the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association, and a member of the Academic Advisory Boards for Standard and Poor's and the Housing Policy Center at the Urban Institute. His research has received funding from the National Science Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Dr. Mayer is active in the media and advising policymakers, testifying six times before committees of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, writing a paper for the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, and authoring numerous op-ed articles in major publications. Dr. Mayer previously served as Senior Vice Dean at Columbia Business School and held positions at The Wharton School, the University of Michigan, Harvard Business School, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. He earned a BS in Math and Economics from the University of Rochester with highest honors and a PhD in Economics from MIT.

Awards And Honors

Pew Charitable Trust

Analysis of Second Liens and a New Proposal, by Chris Mayer, Edward Morrison and Tomasz Piskorski, $25,000, June, 2012

Pew Charitable Trust

Housing Policies to Restore Credit Availability and Attract Private Capital in the Mortgage Market, by Glenn Hubbard, Alan Boyce, Christopher Mayer and James Witkin, $25,000, June, 2012

Sherman Fellowship

University of Rochester, given every 2 years to "The Most Outstanding Economics Student," 1987.

National Science Foundation

Award 1124188--joint with Professors Edward Morrison and Tomasz Piskorski--$347,811: Understanding the Determinants of Household Default Decisions in the Mortgage Crisis, 9/1/2011-8/31/2014.

National Science Foundation

Award 0214410--joint with Todd Sinai--$337,000; Economics of Air Travel: Network Effects, Congestion, and Scheduling Delays, 2002-2004