Are payday lenders harmful to the economy? Two experts debate the issue.
Thaya Brook Knight
Cato Institute
Thaya Brook Knight is associate director of financial regulation studies at the Cato Institute. Before joining Cato, she co-founded and served as general counsel of CrowdCheck. She served as investigative counsel for the congressional oversight panel charged with overseeing the expenditure of Troubled Asset Relief Program funds. She also spent several years with the Washington office of the law firm WilmerHale, where her practice focused on securities litigation, securities enforcement defense, and corporate investigations.
Joe Valenti
Center for American Progress
Joe Valenti is the director of consumer finance at the Center for American Progress. He was formerly a Hamilton Fellow at the U.S. Treasury Department, serving as a research analyst working with the Community Development Financial Institutions and New Markets Tax Credit programs. He also interned for the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs under Chairman Christopher J. Dodd (D-CT).