Payday loans - short-term, often high interest rate loans - have been the subject of much attention in the media and among policy-makers at all levels of government, but the practice has been the subject of much less attention from researchers and analysts. Blue Sky Consulting Group analyzed the consumer welfare impacts of payday lending in order to shed more light on the topic. Through a novel approach to analyzing previously unutilized national data, we conducted an advanced econometric analysis of the consumer welfare effects of payday lending. This objective, analytically rigorous study injected new insights into this often emotion-laden debate. The groundbreaking results have been submitted for publication to an academic journal.