The Great Financial Crisis and the Glass-Steagall Myth
One of the most pernicious myths to emerge from the Great Financial Crisis is the myth had the Glass-Steagall Act separating commercial... Read More
Does Deposit Insurance Promote Excessive Risk-Taking?
The EU is contemplating adopting a European-wide deposit insurance program. The deposit insurance program opponents acknowledge it ends bank runs, but argue... Read More
Contagion: A Product of Opacity on Wall Street
Bankers are great story tellers. Perhaps their greatest self-serving story is the one they tell about contagion. By definition, contagion occurs when... Read More
Saving the Volcker Rule
To no one’s surprise, Wall Street is about to finish off the Volcker Rule as a constraint on its business practices. The... Read More
How Much Influence Should Central Banks Have in a Democracy?
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Paul Tucker asks the question “how much influence should central banks have in a democracy”. My answer is central banks should have... Read More
Rearranging Deck Chairs on the Bank Regulatory Titanic
In the aftermath of the acute phase of the Great Financial Crisis, the roles and responsibilities of the bank regulators were dramatically... Read More
The Confident Idiots at the Fed and Bank Stress Tests
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Perhaps the single worst idea to emerge from the acute phase of the Great Financial Crisis was the public announcement of the... Read More
PhD Economist Derp: Confident Idiots and Bank Capital Regulations
Since the Great Financial Crisis began in 2007, I have found myself having frequent exchanges with PhD Economists about transparency, how our... Read More
If “The Enemy is Forgetting”, What Explains Committee to Save the Banks?
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Ten years after they undermined capitalism in America, the Committee to Save the Banks got together to defend their action. The Committee... Read More
The Committee to Save the Banks – Part II: Opacity and Bank Runs
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In Part II, I’ll show how the Committee to Save the Banks discussion of the panic, fear and bank runs of 2008... Read More
PhD Economist Derp: Financial Regulation Works
A decade has passed since the acute phase of the Great Financial Crisis and the question is finally being asked: does financial... Read More
Opacity Protection Team Member: UK’s Financial Conduct Authority
During the acute phase of the Great Financial Crisis, I coined the term Opacity Protection Team to describe all of the market... Read More
Clayton led SEC Highlighting Importance of Transparency Label Initiative
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To no one’s surprise, the latest member of the Opacity Protection Team to be appointed chairman of the SEC is looking to... Read More
PhD Economist Derp: Macro-Prudential Regulation
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Macro-Prudential regulation is the regulatory embodiment of PhD Economist Derp. The ECB offers a quick guide into what it is and what... Read More
Was it a Mistake to Save the Banks?
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Since the acute phase of the financial crisis began and the decision was made to “save” the banks, the question has been... Read More