Scott Nelson
Assistant Professor of Finance and Cohen and Keenoy Faculty Scholar
Biography
Scott Nelson’s research focuses on consumer credit markets, in particular how regulation interacts with information asymmetries and market structure, and how consumers make choices about borrowing, deleveraging, and default. His research uses a range of data sources including credit reports, credit card account data, surveys, court filings, and employment data together with models of consumer and firm behavior to understand the drivers of credit market outcomes. His research on the US credit card market was awarded the AQR Top Finance Graduate Award in 2018.
Prior to joining Booth, Nelson spent a post-doctoral year with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and Princeton University; he has also been a research fellow with the City of Boston Office of Financial Empowerment, a visiting graduate fellow with the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, and a National Science Foundation graduate research fellow.
Nelson earned a PhD in economics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Before his studies at MIT, Nelson worked as a research assistant at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and at Innovations for Poverty Action, where he was a member of the US Household Finance Initiative. He received a BA (summa cum laude) in economics and mathematics from Yale College.