This week, President Biden is announcing changes to the Paycheck Protection Program that include a two-week window that allows only businesses with fewer than 20 employees to apply for loans.

Michael Faulkender, professor of finance at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, is available to share his insights about the program, which has largely been popular on both sides of the aisle. 

Faulkender (bio) served as the Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy and Chief Economist of the United States Department of the Treasury from 2019 to 2021. In that role, he advised the secretary on domestic and international issues that impacted the economy. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he assisted in negotiating the CARES Act and was the senior Treasury official who led the implementation of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). 

In addition, he chaired the Social Security and Medicare working group that develops the economic and demographic assumptions that are used in the annual Trustees reports and he also chaired the interagency taskforce on Long-Term Care Insurance.

Formerly the associate dean of master’s programs at Maryland Smith, Faulkender’s research focuses on empirical corporate finance in the areas of capital structure, risk management, corporate liquidity, and executive compensation.