Political and Economic Research Council
Encyclopedia
PERC, the Policy and Economic Research Council is a Durham, North Carolina
based non-profit, non-partisan think tank
that concentrates on market-based economic development
, both in the United States
and internationally. PERC is a primary thought leader in the field of alternative data
, and has spearheaded information-led development
as a means for effective community economic development. PERC scholars have published a number of reports, presented findings worldwide, and testified before the United States Congress
on a variety of issues. PERC scholars also serve as expert witnesses in matters pertaining to the Fair Credit Reporting Act
, consumer credit, credit reporting and credit scoring, and the value of information sharing in commercial varying contexts.
in 2003. PERC produced Access, Efficiency, and Opportunity for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The report was the most cited document during the Congressional debate that resulted in the adoption of all of PERC's policy prescriptions. In 2004, it helped to rationalize the free credit provisions of the FACT Act. PERC's research assisted in the reopening of financial data sharing in Australia
and led to a Parliamentary inquiry. In August 2008, the Australian Law Reform Commission
advocated that Australia follow many of PERC's recommendations.
In 2006, PERC published Give Credit Where Credit Is Due with The Brookings Institution, helping to reignite interest in the issue of alternative data
. PERC remains very active in the field through its Alternative Data Initiative . PERC also has a long-running interest in economic recovery in the Gulf Coast region after Hurricane Katrina
. A number of surveys and reports on small business recovery have been released . PERC has released studies for the governments of South Africa
, Brazil
, Japan
, and several Latin American markets as a whole.
In September, 2009, Dr. Michael Turner was selected to be a fellow at Ashoka: Innovators for the Public
, which solidified Ashoka's support for PERC's Alternative Data Initiative .
Dr. Turner was appointed to the first Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee of the Department of Homeland Security by former Secretary Tom Ridge, and served on an Advisory Board at the Brookings Institution. He has advised senior government officials in more than 20 countries, and was a policy advisor to the Obama Campaign on urban policy.
The author or co-author of dozens of books, studies, or articles, Dr. Turner is widely cited in the mainstream and trade media. He is a highly sought after public speaker who has addressed audiences worldwide. Dr. Turner has served as expert witness for both plaintiff and defense in several federal cases (class action, anti-trust) involving information policy, consumer credit, credit reporting and financials services.
Dr. Turner served as Graduate Fellow at the Columbia Institute of Tele-Information at the Columbia Business School, Executive Director of the Information Services Executive Council, manger of government affairs for the North American Telecommunications Association, and staff assistant in the U.S. Senate. Dr. Turner received his Ph.D. from Columbia University in International Political Economy and his B.A. from Miami University in Economics. He was awarded a Yeck Fellowship from Harvard Business School, and was awarded the Ashoka Foundation Fellowship in 2009.
and information policy, PERC has a number of currently active projects:
, Experian
, and Equifax
, as well as consumer groups, asset building organizations including the Corporation for Enterprise Development CFED, state and federal legislators, and regulators as part of its Alternative Data Initiative.
In the Fall of 2009, owing to the promise of the Alternative Data Initiative, the Ashoka Foundation named PERC founder Dr. Michael Turner a United States Ashoka Fellow. This is the highest honor that can be bestowed upon a social entrepreneur, and is indicative of the great potential PERC's ADI holds to dramatically increase financial inclusion in the US and globally.
Information-Led Development
PERC also conducts research in international economic development. PERC scholars have conducted research and outreach in Australia
, New Zealand
, Japan
, Colombia
, Guatemala
, Honduras
, Trinidad and Tobago
, Brazil
, China
, India
, Sri Lanka
, Mexico
, Costa Rica
, South Africa
, Russia
, and Singapore
. PERC founded the Asia-Pacific Credit Coalition to promote regional credit reporting standards. In March 2008, it hosted an international experts conference on credit reporting in China with Peking University
. PERC has been retained by the National Credit Regulator
of South Africa
to conduct research on SMEs, the Inter-American Development Bank to assess credit information sharing in Mexico, and the Kenyan Credit Information Sharing Initiative of the Kenyan Bankers Association and the Central Bank of Kenya to assess a first-ever credit information sharing pilot in Kenya.
In addition to their policy work, PERC, through its double bottom line
for-profit Credit Risk Management International (CRMI), has been actively developing market solutions to credit access challenges in emerging markets, including Kenya and China. PERC is partnering with SinoCred, an intermediary organization in China, to facilitate the rapid build out of a credit information sharing system and the proliferation of value added services that will dramatically expand credit access in China.
. Interest from this piece led PERC to partner with The Brookings Institution to do a study on the economic effects of disaster on communities. PERC has authored two surveys of small business owners, Recovery, Renewal, and Resiliency' and Recovering But Not Recovered. Research conducted jointly with The World Bank represents the first time in its history that the World Bank has engaged in research focusing upon the United States. They released a report on the credit impacts of disaster, and are working to provide a recovery monitoring dashboard.
(APEC) member economies. The Asia-Pacific Credit Coalition was acknowledged for its influence on the current credit reporting reforms in New Zealand.
The APCC members believe that credit reporting should be based on the following general principles:
1. Both positive and negative credit and payment data should be reported to consumer reporting agencies;
2. Recognizing that the individual is owner of their own credit information,consumer rights and protections are paramount. As such, the OECD Fair Information Principles, including notice, access, choice, correction, and redress, should be judiciously applied and shall serve as the foundation of any regional consumer credit reporting standard.
3. A private credit bureau and a public credit registry are complementary to one another and each play distinct and vital roles in a vital financial services system;
4. Reporting of credit and payment data should be done on a voluntary and not mandatory basis;
5. Access to credit and payment data should be universal to all those with a permissible purpose regardless of whether they report the type of firm .
Durham, North Carolina
Durham is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the county seat of Durham County and also extends into Wake County. It is the fifth-largest city in the state, and the 85th-largest in the United States by population, with 228,330 residents as of the 2010 United States census...
based non-profit, non-partisan think tank
Think tank
A think tank is an organization that conducts research and engages in advocacy in areas such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, and technology issues. Most think tanks are non-profit organizations, which some countries such as the United States and Canada provide with tax...
that concentrates on market-based economic development
Economic development
Economic development generally refers to the sustained, concerted actions of policymakers and communities that promote the standard of living and economic health of a specific area...
, both in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and internationally. PERC is a primary thought leader in the field of alternative data
Alternative data
In economic policy, alternative data refers to the inclusion of non-financial payment reporting data in credit files, such as telecom and energy utility payments. Only 39 of 178 economies have credit bureaus that currently track alternative data....
, and has spearheaded information-led development
Information-Led Development
Information-led development most commonly refers to a development strategy whereby a developing country makes as a primary economic policy focus the creation and development of a national information technology sector with the express aim of relying on this sector as an engine of growth. Notable...
as a means for effective community economic development. PERC scholars have published a number of reports, presented findings worldwide, and testified before the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
on a variety of issues. PERC scholars also serve as expert witnesses in matters pertaining to the Fair Credit Reporting Act
Fair Credit Reporting Act
The Fair Credit Reporting Act is a United States federal law that regulates the collection, dissemination, and use of consumer information, including consumer credit information. Along with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act , it forms the base of consumer credit rights in the United States...
, consumer credit, credit reporting and credit scoring, and the value of information sharing in commercial varying contexts.
History
PERC was initially founded as the Information Policy Institute in 2002 in New York City. It first entered national prominence with the reauthorization of the Fair Credit Reporting ActFair Credit Reporting Act
The Fair Credit Reporting Act is a United States federal law that regulates the collection, dissemination, and use of consumer information, including consumer credit information. Along with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act , it forms the base of consumer credit rights in the United States...
in 2003. PERC produced Access, Efficiency, and Opportunity for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The report was the most cited document during the Congressional debate that resulted in the adoption of all of PERC's policy prescriptions. In 2004, it helped to rationalize the free credit provisions of the FACT Act. PERC's research assisted in the reopening of financial data sharing in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and led to a Parliamentary inquiry. In August 2008, the Australian Law Reform Commission
Australian Law Reform Commission
The Australian Law Reform Commission is an Australian independent statutory body established to conduct reviews into the law of Australia and advocate options for law reform...
advocated that Australia follow many of PERC's recommendations.
In 2006, PERC published Give Credit Where Credit Is Due with The Brookings Institution, helping to reignite interest in the issue of alternative data
Alternative data
In economic policy, alternative data refers to the inclusion of non-financial payment reporting data in credit files, such as telecom and energy utility payments. Only 39 of 178 economies have credit bureaus that currently track alternative data....
. PERC remains very active in the field through its Alternative Data Initiative . PERC also has a long-running interest in economic recovery in the Gulf Coast region after Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
. A number of surveys and reports on small business recovery have been released . PERC has released studies for the governments of South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, and several Latin American markets as a whole.
In September, 2009, Dr. Michael Turner was selected to be a fellow at Ashoka: Innovators for the Public
Ashoka: Innovators for the Public
Ashoka: Innovators for the Public is a nonprofit organization based in Arlington, VA, supporting the field of social entrepreneurship. Ashoka was founded by Bill Drayton in 1981 to identify and support leading social entrepreneurs through a Social Venture Capital approach with the goal of...
, which solidified Ashoka's support for PERC's Alternative Data Initiative .
Michael Turner
Michael Turner is the President and Senior Scholar of PERC. He founded the Policy and Economic Research Council also called PERC in 2002. He is a prominent expert on credit access, credit reporting and scoring, information policy, and economic development. He has testified before Congress and numerous state legislatures, and presented studies to a host of government agencies including the FTC, the FCC, and the FDIC, the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, the Council of Economic Advisors, and the White House.Dr. Turner was appointed to the first Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee of the Department of Homeland Security by former Secretary Tom Ridge, and served on an Advisory Board at the Brookings Institution. He has advised senior government officials in more than 20 countries, and was a policy advisor to the Obama Campaign on urban policy.
The author or co-author of dozens of books, studies, or articles, Dr. Turner is widely cited in the mainstream and trade media. He is a highly sought after public speaker who has addressed audiences worldwide. Dr. Turner has served as expert witness for both plaintiff and defense in several federal cases (class action, anti-trust) involving information policy, consumer credit, credit reporting and financials services.
Dr. Turner served as Graduate Fellow at the Columbia Institute of Tele-Information at the Columbia Business School, Executive Director of the Information Services Executive Council, manger of government affairs for the North American Telecommunications Association, and staff assistant in the U.S. Senate. Dr. Turner received his Ph.D. from Columbia University in International Political Economy and his B.A. from Miami University in Economics. He was awarded a Yeck Fellowship from Harvard Business School, and was awarded the Ashoka Foundation Fellowship in 2009.
Projects
Besides previous work in data privacyData privacy
Information privacy, or data privacy is the relationship between collection and dissemination of data, technology, the public expectation of privacy, and the legal and political issues surrounding them....
and information policy, PERC has a number of currently active projects:
Alternative Data Initiative
Up to 54 million Americans have insufficient credit information to qualify for mainstream credit. PERC has been promoting the full reporting of customer payment data -- both positive and negative data -- by energy utility and telecom firms to credit rating agencies as a way of helping millions of Americans quickly build a positive credit history and enable them to access affordable credit. PERC has published three major reports on the issue: Giving Underserved Consumers Better Access to the Credit System, Give Credit Where Credit is Due (with the Brookings Institution), and You Score, You Win. PERC also conducts extensive outreach, including testimony in front of Congress. PERC works with the three major credit reporting agencies, TransUnionTransUnion
TransUnion is the third largest credit bureau in the United States, which offers credit-related information to potential creditors. Like major competitors Equifax and Experian, TransUnion markets credit reports directly to consumers.- History :...
, Experian
Experian
Experian plc, formerly known as CCN Systems, is a global credit information group with operations in 36 countries. The company employs 15,500 people with corporate headquarters in Dublin, Ireland and operational headquarters in Nottingham, England and Costa Mesa, California, US...
, and Equifax
Equifax
Equifax Inc. is a consumer credit reporting agency in the United States, considered one of the three largest American credit agencies along with Experian and TransUnion. Founded in 1899, Equifax is the oldest of the three agencies and gathers and maintains information on over 400 million credit...
, as well as consumer groups, asset building organizations including the Corporation for Enterprise Development CFED, state and federal legislators, and regulators as part of its Alternative Data Initiative.
In the Fall of 2009, owing to the promise of the Alternative Data Initiative, the Ashoka Foundation named PERC founder Dr. Michael Turner a United States Ashoka Fellow. This is the highest honor that can be bestowed upon a social entrepreneur, and is indicative of the great potential PERC's ADI holds to dramatically increase financial inclusion in the US and globally.
Information-Led DevelopmentInformation-Led DevelopmentInformation-led development most commonly refers to a development strategy whereby a developing country makes as a primary economic policy focus the creation and development of a national information technology sector with the express aim of relying on this sector as an engine of growth. Notable...
PERC also conducts research in international economic development. PERC scholars have conducted research and outreach in AustraliaAustralia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
, Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
, Honduras
Honduras
Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...
, Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles...
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, and Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
. PERC founded the Asia-Pacific Credit Coalition to promote regional credit reporting standards. In March 2008, it hosted an international experts conference on credit reporting in China with Peking University
Peking University
Peking University , colloquially known in Chinese as Beida , is a major research university located in Beijing, China, and a member of the C9 League. It is the first established modern national university of China. It was founded as Imperial University of Peking in 1898 as a replacement of the...
. PERC has been retained by the National Credit Regulator
National Credit Regulator
National Credit Regulator as the NCR and was established as the regulator under the National Credit Act 34 of 2005 . The NCR is responsible for the regulation of the South African credit industry...
of South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
to conduct research on SMEs, the Inter-American Development Bank to assess credit information sharing in Mexico, and the Kenyan Credit Information Sharing Initiative of the Kenyan Bankers Association and the Central Bank of Kenya to assess a first-ever credit information sharing pilot in Kenya.
In addition to their policy work, PERC, through its double bottom line
Double bottom line
Double bottom line is a business term used in socially responsible enterprise and investment.While all businesses have a conventional bottom line to measure their fiscal performance—financial profit or loss—enterprises which seek a second bottom line look to measure their performance in...
for-profit Credit Risk Management International (CRMI), has been actively developing market solutions to credit access challenges in emerging markets, including Kenya and China. PERC is partnering with SinoCred, an intermediary organization in China, to facilitate the rapid build out of a credit information sharing system and the proliferation of value added services that will dramatically expand credit access in China.
Gulf Coast Economic Renewal
PERC President Michael Turner initially co-authored an op-ed piece on credit impacts of Hurricane KatrinaHurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
. Interest from this piece led PERC to partner with The Brookings Institution to do a study on the economic effects of disaster on communities. PERC has authored two surveys of small business owners, Recovery, Renewal, and Resiliency' and Recovering But Not Recovered. Research conducted jointly with The World Bank represents the first time in its history that the World Bank has engaged in research focusing upon the United States. They released a report on the credit impacts of disaster, and are working to provide a recovery monitoring dashboard.
Asia Pacific Credit Coalition
Asia Pacific Credit Coalition (APCC) is a PERC-managed coalition of organizations that work together to promote a regional standard for full-file, comprehensive consumer credit reporting to private credit bureaus within the twenty-one Asia-Pacific Economic CooperationAsia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation is a forum for 21 Pacific Rim countries that seeks to promote free trade and economic cooperation throughout the Asia-Pacific region...
(APEC) member economies. The Asia-Pacific Credit Coalition was acknowledged for its influence on the current credit reporting reforms in New Zealand.
The APCC members believe that credit reporting should be based on the following general principles:
1. Both positive and negative credit and payment data should be reported to consumer reporting agencies;
2. Recognizing that the individual is owner of their own credit information,consumer rights and protections are paramount. As such, the OECD Fair Information Principles, including notice, access, choice, correction, and redress, should be judiciously applied and shall serve as the foundation of any regional consumer credit reporting standard.
3. A private credit bureau and a public credit registry are complementary to one another and each play distinct and vital roles in a vital financial services system;
4. Reporting of credit and payment data should be done on a voluntary and not mandatory basis;
5. Access to credit and payment data should be universal to all those with a permissible purpose regardless of whether they report the type of firm .
See also
- alternative dataAlternative dataIn economic policy, alternative data refers to the inclusion of non-financial payment reporting data in credit files, such as telecom and energy utility payments. Only 39 of 178 economies have credit bureaus that currently track alternative data....
- Ashoka Foundation
- The Brookings Institution
- The World Bank
- Fair Credit Reporting ActFair Credit Reporting ActThe Fair Credit Reporting Act is a United States federal law that regulates the collection, dissemination, and use of consumer information, including consumer credit information. Along with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act , it forms the base of consumer credit rights in the United States...
- FACT Act
- The Corporation for Enterprise DevelopmentCorporation for Enterprise DevelopmentThe Corporation for Enterprise Development is a national nonprofit based in Washington, DC dedicated to expanding economic opportunity for low-income families and communities. CFED uses an approach grounded in community practice, public policy and private markets...
-- an asset building advocacy group and long-time supporter of PERC's ADI - The Center for Financial Services InnovationThe Center for Financial Services InnovationThe Center for Financial Services Innovation is a nonprofit financial services consultancy headquartered in Chicago, specializing in serving unbanked and underbanked consumers...
-- A Chicago-based consultancy working in similar issue areas to PERC focusing on the demand side of alternative data