Alex Pollock
Alex Pollock is a Senior Fellow at the Mises Institute, where he contributes thought leadership on financial systems, economic policy, and the dynamics of financial cycles. He previously served as Principal Deputy Director of the Office of Financial Research at the U.S. Treasury, Distinguished Senior Fellow at the R Street Institute, Resident Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and President and CEO of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago. With decades of experience in banking, financial regulation, and policy analysis, Pollock has built a reputation as a leading voice on financial stability, monetary policy, and systemic risk. His work focuses on major financial policy issues, including financial cycles, housing finance, banking structure, central banking, uncertainty and risk, retirement finance, corporate governance, and financial crises. Throughout his career, Pollock has held prominent leadership and governance positions. He was a long-serving Director of the CME Group, one of the world’s largest derivatives marketplaces, as well as a Director of Ascendium Education Group, a major nonprofit dedicated to postsecondary education and workforce development.
Alex Pollock Professional Experience / Academic History
Professional Experience
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Senior Fellow
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Principal Deputy Director of the Office of Financial Research
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Distinguished Senior Fellow
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Director
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Resident Fellow
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Visiting Scholar
Academic History
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M.P.A., International Affairs
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B.A., Philosophy
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M.A., Philosophy
RESEARCH & EXPERTISE
Alex Pollock is widely recognized for his deep expertise in financial cycles, including booms and busts, systemic financial crises, and the political responses that follow them.
His research spans housing finance, government-sponsored enterprises, mortgage markets, risk and uncertainty, and the legal and economic foundations of financial systems.
Pollock also focuses on central banking, financial regulation, corporate governance, retirement finance, and student loan policy, examining how incentives and institutional structures shape long-term economic outcomes.
His broader intellectual interests include political finance, policy history, management, and the pursuit of conceptual clarity in understanding financial systems.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
Pollock rejoined the R Street Institute in 2021 after serving as the Principal Deputy Director of the Office of Financial Research at the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
He previously served as President and CEO of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago, where he created the pioneering Mortgage Partnership Finance (MPF) program, which introduced front-end mortgage credit-risk sharing in 1997.
He is a Director and past Chairman of the Great Books Foundation and previously served as President of the International Union for Housing Finance.
During his tenure as a Resident Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, he developed the “One Page Mortgage Form,” designed to give borrowers a clear summary of the essential terms of their mortgage commitments.
As a long-serving Director of CME Group, he chaired both the Compensation and Nominating Committees and contributed to the Executive, Finance, Governance, Clearing House Oversight, and Market Regulation Oversight Committees.
PUBLICATIONS
Pollock is the author of several influential books on financial systems, including Boom and Bust: Financial Cycles and Human Prosperity (co-authored with Howard Adler), Finance and Philosophy: Why We’re Always Surprised, and Making Good Decisions: Law, Ethics, and Morality.
His works are widely cited for their accessible explanations of complex financial concepts and for highlighting the recurrent patterns that shape markets and institutions.