John D. Wolken

John Wolken is a Director at Global Economics Group. Dr. Wolken is an economist with expertise in small business finance and financial institutions as well as survey methodology and analysis of survey data. 

Prior to his affiliation with Global Economics group, Dr. Wolken was involved with policy analysis and research as a Senior Economist at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. There he conducted policy and research projects on the financial services industry as well as financial regulation. Dr. Wolken’s extensive career with small business finance has allowed him to participate in over 20 reports, monographs, and policy studies with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. In addition, he has actively communicated his knowledge through participating in over 60 combined conferences and presentations.

Dr. Wolken received a Ph.D. in Economics and a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from the University of Southern California. His main areas of focus during his Ph.D. program were industrial organization, econometrics, and mathematical economics. 

REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS
—

Articles
• Does Distance Matter in Banking? chapter in The Changing Geography of Banking and Finance, Pietro Alessandrini, Michele Fratianni and Alberto Zazzaro (eds), Springer Publishing Company, May 2009.

• Determining Subsampling Rates for Nonrespondents, Proceedings of the Third International Conference of Establishment Surveys (ICES III), June 18-21, 2007, Montreal, Canada (CD_ROM), American Statistical Association, forthcoming (with Rachel Harter (NORC), Traci Mach, and Janella Chapline (NORC).

• Financial Services Used by Small Businesses: Evidence from the 2003 Survey of Small Business Finances, Federal Reserve Bulletin, October 2006, pp. 167-195 (with Traci Mach).

• Determining Subsampling Rates for Nonrespondents, Proceedings of the Third International Conference of Establishment Surveys (ICES III), June 18-21, 2007, Montreal, Canada (CD_ROM), American Statistical Association, forthcoming (with Rachel Harter (NORC), Traci Mach, and Janella Chapline (NORC).

• Small Business Loan Turndowns, Personal Wealth and Discrimination, Journal of Business, Vol 78, November 2005, pp. 2153-2177 (with Ken Cavalluzzo).

• Financial Services Used by Small Businesses: Evidence from the 1998 Survey of Small Business Finances, Federal Reserve Bulletin, April 2001 (with Marianne Bitler and Alicia Robb).

• Market Definition and the Analysis of Antitrust in Banking, The Antitrust Bulletin, Winter 1997, pp. 973-995 (with Myron L. Kwast and Martha Starr-McCluer).

• Reports, Monographs and Policy Studies

• Reports to the Congress on the Use of Credit Cards by Small Businesses and the Credit Card Market for Small Businesses, Washington, D.C., Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, May 28, 2010.

• Distance Still Matters: The Information Revolution in Small Business Lending and the Persistent Role of Location, 1993-2003, Finance and Economics Discussion Series, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Washington, D.C., August 2009 (with Kenneth Brevoort and John Holmes).

• The Evolving Relationships between Community Banks and Small Businesses: Evidence from the Surveys of Small Business Finances, Finance and Economics Discussion Series, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Washington, D.C., 2008-60, November 2008 (With Robin Prager).

• Does Distance Matter in Banking? finance and Economics Discussion Series, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Washington, D.C., 2008-34, July 2008 (With Kenneth Brevoort).

CONFERENCES AND PRESENTATIONS
—

• Predicting small business failure, presented at the Academy of Entrepreneurial Finance, September, 2009 (With Traci Mach).

• Roundtable participant at Kauffman and OECD Entrepreneurial Access to Finance, Kansas City, Missouri, June 24-25, 2009.

• An overview of the Term Asset Backed Securities Lending Facility (TALF) and Treasury’s Unlocking Credit for Small Business proposal, presented at the Federal Reserve Board’s Capital Access for Small Businesses in Underserved Communities conference, April 15, 2009.

• Small Business Loan Turndowns, Personal Wealth and Discrimination, American Economic Association Meetings, Washington, D.C., January 2003.

• Competition, Credit Rationing and Discrimination: Evidence on Small Business Credit Markets, presented at American Economics Association Meetings, January 7, 2000, Boston, Massachusetts. Also presented at Business Access to Capital and Credit: A Federal Reserve System Research Conference, Arlington, Virginia, March 8, 1999.

SELECTED AFFILIATIONS
—

• Federal Committee on Statistical Methodology, Subcommittee on Data Quality. Prepared Report on Errors in Survey Research, 1996 to 2000.

• Interagency Working Group for Implementation of Section 122 of FDICIA, Fall 1996.

• Interagency Working Group on Bank Competition, Department of Justice, June 1992