Policy Brief
Rent-Pricing Bans Won’t Build Homes
Antitrust law already reaches landlords who coordinate rents through shared software; what has brought rents down is new housing, which a ban does not add.
White Paper No. 15
The Other Side of the Parchment
What a Manhattan Larceny Trial Reveals About the Boundary McCarran-Ferguson Never Drew
The Southwest Public Policy Institute (SPPI) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit research institute and think tank dedicated to advancing better living through better policy.
Latest
Policy Brief
Parity Should Not Depend on a Branch
The FDIC’s State Bank Parity proposal would put state-chartered banks on national banks’ footing wherever they serve customers; by the agency’s figures, Illinois’s interchange law would cost those banks $308 million to move $2.28 million a year to merchants.
Policy Brief
Who Paid for the Debit Card Cap
Fifteen years into the debit card cap, Federal Reserve research finds that few merchants cut prices and that banks recovered much of the lost revenue from checking customers, a record that argues against extending the approach to credit cards.
Coalition Letter
SPPI Joins Coalition Urging House and Senate Education Committees to Advance the PARITY Act
The letter asks the chairmen of the Senate HELP and House Education and Workforce committees to advance the PARITY Act, which would repeal the Higher Education Act’s 90/10 rule for proprietary schools.
In the News
The CFPB’s Medical-Debt Rule Lacked an Adequate Empirical Basis, Nigrinis Finds
AccountsRecovery.net reports on White Paper No. 13, in which Andrew Rodrigo Nigrinis examines the research the CFPB relied on for its medical-debt reporting rule.
Press Release
SPPI Names Andrew Rodrigo Nigrinis Senior Fellow
Former CFPB enforcement economist will expand the institute’s research on consumer finance, banking, and financial regulation.
White Paper No. 14
The Moral Hierarchy of Debt
Why America’s Most Trusted Loan Is Its Most Expensive, and Who Decided Otherwise
Op-Eds
The Journal Record
Why is Oklahoma making an example of an insurer that pays its claims?
The Washington Times
Banning rent algorithms will not build apartments
Santa Fe New Mexican
The insurance fix isn’t in Washington, D.C.
The Washington Times
Banning personalized pricing isn’t fairness
Research spotlight
White Paper No. 14
Good Debt, Bad Debt and What Borrowers Actually Pay
Ranked by annual percentage rate, as American credit law ranks them, the 30-year mortgage is the second-cheapest of seven common credit products and the payday loan the fifth. Ranked by the finance charge as a share of what was borrowed, the payday loan is the cheapest of the seven and the mortgage the fifth.
The Moral Hierarchy of Debt
From Table 12. Parking, overdraft and payday rows use the disclosed or agency-reported fee. Credit card, auto and student rows are illustrative loans at indicative 2026 rates, amortized by the authors. The FHA row is the author’s Closing Disclosure; its finance charge includes mortgage insurance and prepaid finance charges.
Data for Figure 10
| Product | APR (%) | Finance charge as share of principal (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Federal student loan | 6.39 | 36 |
| 30-year FHA mortgage | 6.548 | 121 |
| Auto loan | 7 | 19 |
| Credit card | 21.9 | 37 |
| Payday loan | 391 | 15 |
| Parking invoice | 14600 | 400 |
| Bank overdraft | 17000 | 142 |
Commentary
85 op-eds and 3 letters in 28 outlets since 2022
Written by SPPI staff, by the year each one ran. The 3 op-eds from before SPPI’s founding in 2022 are in gray and not counted above.
- Outlets in SPPI’s “As published in” list
- Other outlets
- Letter to the editor
- Before SPPI’s founding
3
7
20
12
22
27
As published in
The Wall Street Journal
Issues
Data & PrivacyData centers, open banking, privacy, algorithmic pricing and artificial intelligence.Economic OpportunityJobs, taxes, budgets, corporate welfare and trade.Consumer FinanceCredit access, rate caps, the CFPB, banking, payments and retirement savings.HousingMortgages, rents, building codes and housing supply.InsuranceInsurance regulation and oversight.Government Transparency & AccountabilityPublic records, litigation, lobbying and procurement.Energy, Environment & Natural ResourcesEnergy, water, public lands and the environment.Health CareMedicaid, Medicare, drug pricing and public health.
More issues
- Education Freedom & ReformSchool choice and public education.
- Public SafetyCrime, courts and firearms.
Results
Founded
Southwest Public Policy Institute
Founded in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, and recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in July 2022.
Released
A Bright, Shining Disappointment (White Paper No. 1)
SPPI’s first numbered white paper, on solar power’s actual share of the Southwest’s energy supply.
Joined
Atlas Network
Approved as a partner of Atlas Network, a network of more than 500 free-market think tanks worldwide.
Released
No Loan for You! (White Paper No. 2)
SPPI’s first secret-shopper study: the three national banks Pew said offered small-dollar loans in New Mexico all turned down a well-qualified applicant.
Released
No Loan for You, Too! (White Paper No. 4)
The test, extended to credit unions and a second state: 13 of 15 New Mexico credit unions denied the loan, offered no payday alternative loan or refused membership.
Resolved
SPPI v. New Mexico Secretary of State
The court rejected the Secretary of State’s motion to dismiss in April 2023. The office then settled, paying SPPI $22,000.
Launched
Bureau to Protect Financial Consumers
A campaign to collect accounts from consumers caught in the CFPB’s 2023 data breach, which exposed records on about 256,000 consumers. Fox Business covered the launch.
Awarded
Candid Platinum Seal of Transparency
Candid’s highest level of nonprofit transparency, awarded in 2024 and again in 2025 and 2026.
Testified
Alaska House Finance Committee, House Bill 145
Testified against a rate cap on consumer loans, presenting the findings of No Loan for You! and No Loan for You, Too!
Testified
Alaska Senate Finance Committee, Senate Bill 39
Testified against a 36% APR cap on consumer loans. SPPI’s written testimony is in the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee’s record.
Resolved
SPPI v. New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department
After a January 2025 trial, the court held SPPI entitled to its fees under the Inspection of Public Records Act. The department agreed to pay $30,796.93 in attorney’s fees, costs and tax.
Released
Swipe Right (White Paper No. 6)
All seven credit-card applications made directly with lenders were rejected or left incomplete; through Credit Karma, the same applicant had a card within minutes. Fox Business reported the findings.
Filed
Corner Post v. Federal Reserve, Eighth Circuit
SPPI’s first federal amicus brief, with the James Madison Institute, supporting the Federal Reserve’s reading of the Durbin Amendment on debit-card fees.
Filed
Linney’s Pizza v. Federal Reserve, Sixth Circuit
An amicus brief with the Taxpayers Protection Alliance Foundation and the Pinpoint Policy Institute, supporting the Federal Reserve’s debit-card fee rule, Regulation II.
Released
Model legislation on the NAIC
A model act that would require the NAIC to report each year to a state’s insurance committees, as Michigan has required since 1998.
Newsletter
A monthly email with new research, testimony and op-eds.
Support SPPI
SPPI is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and gifts are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.