Research Programs
More
What are you looking for?
Showing 9 of 202 Results in Financial Regulation
TOTM Increasingly, the notion that updating antitrust policy with the insights of behavioral economics would significantly improve matters for consumers. Others have called for more major . . .
Increasingly, the notion that updating antitrust policy with the insights of behavioral economics would significantly improve matters for consumers. Others have called for more major surgery, favoring an outright rejection of the current economic foundation of antitrust policy — and especially the portions of the foundation “Made in Chicago” — in favor of a new regime based on behavioral economics. There are plenty of antitrust scholars who’ve begun to make this case, with perhaps Professor Stucke having been the most prolific on this score. And behavioral economics has provided the intellectual support, or perhaps cover depending on who you ask, for the recent regulatory expansion involving consumer credit. The issue is also getting more and more attention. Competition Policy International recently published a symposium issue dedicated to the topic.
Read the full piece here.
TOTM The new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is right around the corner Talk has now turned to who might run the powerful agency and what it . . .
The new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is right around the corner Talk has now turned to who might run the powerful agency and what it might do. The WSJ names names…
TOTM Judge Posner offers his thoughts on financial reform, mostly negative, at Bloomberg. The thrust of the essay is that the financial regulation produced by the . . .
Judge Posner offers his thoughts on financial reform, mostly negative, at Bloomberg. The thrust of the essay is that the financial regulation produced by the political process has, at best, a poor nexus to the actual causes of the economic crisis, and that what we are left with is primary reorganization and reshuffling to look busy. Judge Posner discusses the political advantages to reshuffling as a response to government failure…
TOTM Danny Sokol has posted the most downloaded antitrust law professors. I come in 4th behind Damien Geradin, David Evans, and Herb Hovenkamp. It is flattering . . .
Danny Sokol has posted the most downloaded antitrust law professors. I come in 4th behind Damien Geradin, David Evans, and Herb Hovenkamp. It is flattering to be in company like that by any measure. Cool. But, as Danny points out, what is even cooler is that George Mason is one of only a handful of schools with more than one faculty member making the list, with my colleague, co-author, and fellow Bruin economist Bruce Kobayashi coming in at #15.
TOTM As regular readers know, interchange fees are a frequent topic of conversation around the blog. Taking the conversation from the ether to the real world, . . .
As regular readers know, interchange fees are a frequent topic of conversation around the blog. Taking the conversation from the ether to the real world, ICLE has funded a white paper and is putting on a conference next week on the topic. The conference, in fact, grows out of the successful online symposium we held here at Truth on the Market a few months ago. An e-book/pdf version of the posts and comments from that sympoisum can be downloaded here, by the way. A few of the participants from the symposium will be participating in the conference, as well (more below).
Popular Media Late in the Senate’s proceedings on the financial regulatory reform bill, the Senate adopted – with no hearings and minimal debate – a controversial provision . . .
Late in the Senate’s proceedings on the financial regulatory reform bill, the Senate adopted – with no hearings and minimal debate – a controversial provision proposed by Sen. Richard Durbin, Illinois Democrat, that imposes price controls on interchange fees for debit and prepaid cards. The amendment also allows merchants to override several rules of payment card networks that currently protect consumers from abusive practices by merchants. While big-box merchants and convenience stores are declaring this a victory against the financial services industry, if the amendment survives in conference committee, consumers and small banks will be the real losers.
TOTM Taking a page from Rahm Emanuel’s never let a serious crisis go to waste playbook, our esteemed senators are loading the pending financial reform legislation, . . .
Taking a page from Rahm Emanuel’s never let a serious crisis go to waste playbook, our esteemed senators are loading the pending financial reform legislation, ostensibly aimed at preventing future financial meltdowns, with all sorts of wish-list items that have nothing to do with financial crises.
TOTM Let’s get one thing straight: At the end of the day, our recent financial woes were primarily caused by the mispricing of assets. A housing . . .
Let’s get one thing straight: At the end of the day, our recent financial woes were primarily caused by the mispricing of assets. A housing bubble (or, more accurately, a number of local housing bubbles) emerged as home prices grew much faster than home values. People were buying homes that they knew were on the pricey side because they figured they could always sell them to a “greater fool” who’d pay even more. Lenders financed these transactions because they knew they could sell their mortgages to federally-backed greater fools, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Eventually, though, it became apparent that prices were out of line with values, the stream of greater fools dried up, and lots of folks found themselves in the unfortunate position of owing more on their homes than the homes are worth. Homeowners began defaulting on their mortgages, many of which had been sold off and packaged into securities that were purchased by financial institutions. Those defaults caused the mortgage-backed securities to fall in value, reducing the capital of the financial institutions that held them and causing insurers of those securities (e.g., sellers of credit default swaps) to have to pay large claims. It’s a somewhat complicated story, but at the end of the day there’s a clear culprit: real estate (and real estate-related) bubbles.
TOTM Two weeks ago I highlighted the promising looking Cato Unbound forum on the new paternalism kicked off by Glen Whitman, with follow up posts and . . .
Two weeks ago I highlighted the promising looking Cato Unbound forum on the new paternalism kicked off by Glen Whitman, with follow up posts and responses from the King (or co-King along with Cass Sunstein) of Nudge, Richard Thaler, along with Jonathan Klick and Shane Frederick. I was really excited about the forum, because I have research interests in this area and consider myself a “skeptic” of the new paternalism generally (hey, the Weekly Standard says “prominent skeptic,” but even I don’t go that far). So — now that the exchange is over — I find myself, well, better off for having read it but disappointed. I’m going to blog about the disappointing part. Don’t get me wrong, it started off really well. Glen came out swinging, Thaler responds (there no slopes, paternalism is inevitable, and by the way, a really odd choice of example for the lack of evidence in favor of slopes: prohibition), Klick and Frederick chime in.
