Barr attended Yale College and graduated summa cum laude with honors in history in 1987.[6] At Yale,he won the New Prize for public service and the Gries Prize for his senior history thesis,"The Black Consciousness Movement in South Africa".[7] He went on to earn his M.Phil. in international relations in 1989 as a Rhodes Scholar at Magdalen College,Oxford.[8] His thesis was on Panama–United States relations.[9]
Returning to the University of Michigan,Barr established and directed the Center on Finance,Law,and Policy,a university-wide interdisciplinary research center on financial policy and regulation,financial products and services,and management of financial institutions.[32]
In 2015,Barr helped to create the Entrepreneurs of Color Fund,which provides loan capital to minority entrepreneurs in Detroit.[33] He also co-founded the Detroit Neighborhood Entrepreneurs Project (DNEP) at the University of Michigan in 2016.[34] The DNEP is an interdisciplinary clinic that connects students and faculty from the law school,the Stephen M. Ross School of Business,the Penny W. Stamps School of Art &Design and the University of Michigan College of Engineering to help entrepreneurs develop their small businesses.[35]
On August 1,2017,Barr began a five-year appointment as the Joan and Sanford Weill Dean of Public Policy at the University of Michigan's Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.[4] He is a non-resident scholar at the Brookings Institution and is an advisor to the Clinton Global Initiative. He has been a visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. In 2014,he was named the Roy F. and Jean Humphrey Proffitt Professor of Law.[36]
Barr has completed research in the areas of financial regulation and financial inclusion. He has published over 100 books and articles on the topic.[37] His books also suggest public policy recommendations for making the financial system more stable and fairer for low-income people. His first book,Building Inclusive Financial Systems,published in 2007,is about the obstacles that households,the rural poor and micro-enterprises face when trying to meet their financial needs.[38]
In 2009,Barr published Insufficient Funds,which was co-edited by the former Ford School dean,Rebecca Blank. The book is about the results of a 1,000-person,in-depth field research study conducted in Detroit. It found that low-income families pay more for financial services and supplement mainstream banking services with alternative lenders,such as payday lenders and pawn shops.[39]
Barr's book,No Slack:The Financial Lives of Low-Income Americans,was published in 2012 and is also about the Detroit research study. It contains anecdotes from the interviewees and recommendations for improving the financial health of low- and moderate-income people.[40]
In 2016,Barr co-authored a law school casebook with Margaret E. Tahyar and Howell Jackson called Financial Regulation:Law &Policy. A second edition was published in 2018,and a third in 2021.[41]
On January 6,2025,the Federal Reserve Board announced that Barr would be resigning from his position as Vice Chair for Supervision effective on February 28,2025 and that he would continue to serve as a governor.[45] Barr remains on leave from the University of Michigan.[2]
While at the Department of the Treasury,Barr publicly opposed tougher derivatives regulations,[46] resulting in criticism from the progressive wing of the Democratic Party.[27][47] Barr opposed what he saw as efforts to overturn financial regulations put in place by the Dodd–Frank Act during American trade talks with the European Union. Barr has defended the legacy of former Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner,arguing that he helped "save this Nation,and the global economy,from another Great Depression."[48]
↑School, Michael S. Barr, Professor of Law, University of Michigan Law (January 25, 2013). "Barr: Tim Geithner's True Legacy". CNBC. Retrieved September 17, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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