Mark A. Calabria

On February 9, 2017, Calabria was selected by Vice President Mike Pence to serve as his chief economist.[3]

Before that, Calabria was the Director of Financial Regulation Studies at the Cato Institute; a member of the senior staff of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, where he handled issues related to housing, mortgage finance, economics, banking and insurance for Ranking Member Richard Shelby; a staffer on the Senate Banking Committee under Chairman Phil Gramm;[4] and a Deputy Assistant Secretary for Regulatory Affairs at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. He also held a variety of positions at Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies, the National Association of Home Builders, the National Association of Realtors and the U.S. Census Bureau's Center for Economic Studies.[5]

Calabria is a frequent commentator in the media. He has appeared on C-SPAN's Book TV, CNBC's the Kudlow Report & Street Signs, Fox affiliate WTTG News, NBC affiliate WDSU News, and WOR's Steve Malzberg Show.[5] He has also written for Forbes, The San Diego Union-Tribune, The Wall Street Journal, and the New York Post.

Calabria has also testified before Congress. In testimony before the House Committee on Financial Services in September 2009, he said that "the current foreclosure relief efforts have largely been unsuccessful because they have misidentified the underlying causes of mortgage default. It is not exploding ARMs or predatory lending that drives the current wave of foreclosures, but negative equity driven by house prices declines coupled with adverse income shocks that are the main driver of defaults on primary residences."[6]

Calabria has been noted by the media for his pro-free market views

Calabria is currently under scrutiny for nearly $900 million in loans to the Kushner Companies. The 18 mortgages were secured by Jared Kushner's sister, Nicole Kushner Meyer personally pitching the deal to Freddie Mac. The loans come with unusually lenient terms, including lower APRs than normal, interest only payments for the entire ten-year term. followed by the full principals due in a single ballon payment. If the Kushner Companies default on these loans, Freddie Mac will be out approximately $850 million in 2019 dollars. The taxpayers have previously had to bail out Freddie Mac and Fannie Mac for $190 billion after the 2008 crisis (this money has been recouped in full plus some from the two federal lenders). On top of the eschewing of standard practices above, Freddie Mac also greatly overvalued the properties in the mortgage and even more so, their yearly profitability. These deviations from the norm and overvaluations came at the time that Calabria assumed the helm at Freddie Mac which led to the inquiries into impropriety and influence. [7]

• 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

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mark A. Calabria.

• FHFA biography
• Mark Calabria Discusses the Credit Card Bill on CNBC, 5-20-09
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• The Cato Institute website – Washington, D.C.