Financial regulation can fail when it is needed the most. The dynamics of asset price bubbles weaken financial regulation just as financial markets begin to overheat and the risk of crisis spikes. At the same time, the failure of financial regulations adds further fuel to a bubble. This book examines the interaction of bubbles and financial regulation. It explores the ways in which bubbles lead to the failure of financial regulation by outlining five dynamics, which it collectively labels the "Regulatory Instability Hypothesis." . The book concludes by outlining approaches to make financial regulation more resilient to these dynamics that undermine law.
Financial regulation can fail when it is needed the most. The dynamics of asset price bubbles weaken financial regulation just as financial markets begin to overheat and the risk of crisis spikes. At the same time, the failure of financial regulations adds further fuel to a bubble. This book examines the interaction of bubbles and financial regulation. It explores the ways in which bubbles lead to the failure of financial regulation by outlining five dynamics, which it collectively labels the "Regulatory Instability Hypothesis." . The book concludes by outlining approaches to make financial regulation more resilient to these dynamics that undermine law.
An “intriguing plan” addressing shadow banking, regulation, and the continuing quest for financial stability (Financial Times). Years have passed since the world experienced one of the worst financial crises in history, and while countless experts have analyzed it, many central questions remain unanswered. Should money creation be considered a “public” or “private” activity—or both? What do we mean by, and want from, financial stability? What role should regulation play? How would we design our monetary institutions if we could start from scratch? In The Money Problem, Morgan Ricks addresses these questions and more, offering a practical yet elegant blueprint for a modernized system of money and banking—one that, crucially, can be accomplished through incremental changes to the United States’ current system. He brings a critical, missing dimension to the ongoing debates over financial stability policy, arguing that the issue is primarily one of monetary system design. The Money Problem offers a way to mitigate the risk of catastrophic panic in the future, and it will expand the financial reform conversation in the United States and abroad. “Highly recommended.” —Choice
In Misalignment: The New Financial Order and the Failure of Financial Regulation, Joel Seligman provides a broad account of banking, insurance, and securities regulation from the beginning of the United States through the 2007-2009 financial crisis and concludes with a plan for a fundamentally different approach to financial regulation that is more likely to avoid financial meltdowns in the future and minimize financial perturbations. The history of financial regulation in the United States is a history of crisis reaction. Before the New Deal, uncoordinated regulatory systems were established in banking and insurance. In the New Deal period, the U.S. achieved a long-stable model of financial regulation that atomized financial firms and substantially increased investor and depositor protection. After World War II, the New Deal financial regulatory model deteriorated and vast areas of finance evolved outside of regulation. No event better crystalized this deterioration than the financial debacle of 2007-2009. How was such a debacle possible in a nation whose financial regulatory system was long considered the finest in the world? More than any other cause, the misalignment of the Treasury, Federal Reserve System, and regulatory systems designed in earlier crises to address specific industries was overwhelmed by a New Financial Order, financial supermarkets that operated in several financial fields simultaneously. The 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 was at best a partial response to the greatest financial calamity in our history since the 1929-1932 stock market crash. The failure of Dodd-Frank to address the structure of financial regulation was its most conspicuous weakness. Misalignment proposes a plan for a different approach to financial regulation designed to avoid economic failures in the future and minimize financial disorder.
Examining the subject from a holistic and multidisciplinary perspective, Principles of Financial Regulation considers the underlying policies and the objectives of financial regulation.
Law and the Financial System: Securitization and Asset Backed Securities provides students and practitioners with a comprehensive source of materials and references for understanding the process and issues that surround the conversion of illiquid financial assets into tradable securities. The book begins with an overview of the financial system and the place of securitization in the system. The book focuses on the process and law of securitization and is derived largely from Tamar Frankel's treaties, Securitization (2nd ed. 2005). The book concludes with a global view of securitization and an assessment of the impact and future of securitizing financial assets. The legal text is enhanced with case studies and simulation exercises that bring context and practical application to the subject. Study questions covering law, business and public policy provide students with an opportunity to discuss and debate areas where answers are complex and often indeterminate. Simulation exercises enable students to test their own ideas with their peers using real world examples. The book can be used as a stand alone course on securitization or as a supplementary text for courses on financial regulation. Practitioners will find the book a useful desk reference. This is the second book co-authored by Mark Fagan and Tamar Frankel. The first was "Trust and Honesty in the Real World" (2007). About the authors: Tamar Frankel authored Fiduciary Law (2008), Trust and Honesty, America's Business Culture at a Crossroad (2006), Securitization (2d.ed 2006), The Regulation of Money Managers (2d ed. 2001 with Ann Taylor Schwing), and more than 70 articles. A long-time member of the Boston University School of Law faculty, Professor Frankel was a visiting scholar at the Securities and Exchange Commission and at the Brookings Institution. A native of Israel, Professor Frankel served in the Israeli Air Force, was an assistant attorney general for Israel's Ministry of Justice and the legal advisor of the State of Israel Bonds Organization in Europe. She practiced in Israel, Boston and Washington, D.C. and is a member of the Massachusetts Bar, the American Law Institute, and The American Bar Foundation. Mr. Fagan's research centers on the role of regulation in competitive markets. He has written about the impact of deregulation in the financial, transportation and electricity sectors. He teaches courses and guest lectures at Boston University School of Law and at Harvard Kennedy School. He has been a frequent seminar speaker at Harvard Kennedy School's Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government; recent topics include the subprime disaster, securitization, Ponzi schemes, and financial bubbles. Mark Fagan is a founding partner of Norbridge, Inc. a general management consulting firm. He works with clients in the transportation, telecommunications and utility industries as they grapple with increasing shareholder value in a deregulated world. Prior to Norbridge, he was a Vice President of Mercer Management Consulting.
The financial system and its regulation have undergone exponential growth and dramatic reform over the last thirty years. This period has witnessed major developments in the nature and intensity of financial markets, as well as repeated cycles of regulatory reform and development, often linked to crisis conditions. The recent financial crisis has led to unparalleled interest in financial regulation from policymakers, economists, legal practitioners, and the academic community, and has prompted large-scale regulatory reform. The Oxford Handbook of Financial Regulation is the first comprehensive, authoritative, and state of the art account of the nature of financial regulation. Written by an international team of leading scholars in the field, it takes a contextual and comparative approach to examine scholarly, policy, and regulatory developments in the past three decades. The first three parts of the Handbook address the underpinning horizontal themes which arise in financial regulation: financial systems and regulation; the organization of financial system regulation, including regional examples from the EU and the US; and the delivery of outcomes and regulatory techniques. The final three Parts address the perennial objectives of financial regulation, widely regarded as the anchors of financial regulation internationally: financial stability, market efficiency, integrity, and transparency; and consumer protection. The Oxford Handbook of Financial Regulation is an invaluable resource for scholars and students of financial regulation, economists, policy-makers and regulators.
How governmental failure led to the 2008 financial crisis—and what needs to be done to avoid another similar event Behind every financial crisis lurks a "political bubble"—policy biases that foster market behaviors leading to financial instability. Rather than tilting against risky behavior, political bubbles—arising from a potent combination of beliefs, institutions, and interests—aid, abet, and amplify risk. Demonstrating how political bubbles helped create the real estate-generated financial bubble and the 2008 financial crisis, this book argues that similar government oversights in the aftermath of the crisis undermined Washington's response to the "popped" financial bubble, and shows how such patterns have occurred repeatedly throughout US history. The authors show that just as financial bubbles are an unfortunate mix of mistaken beliefs, market imperfections, and greed, political bubbles are the product of rigid ideologies, unresponsive and ineffective government institutions, and special interests. Financial market innovations—including adjustable-rate mortgages, mortgage-backed securities, and credit default swaps—become subject to legislated leniency and regulatory failure, increasing hazardous practices. The authors shed important light on the politics that blinds regulators to the economic weaknesses that create the conditions for economic bubbles and recommend simple, focused rules that should help avoid such crises in the future. The first full accounting of how politics produces financial ruptures, Political Bubbles offers timely lessons that all sectors would do well to heed.
The Oxford Handbook of Law and Economics applies the theoretical and empirical methods of economics to the study of law. Volume 2 surveys Private and Commercial Law.
