Moral hazard and the Lender of Last Resort
The ECB released a document discussing moral hazard and its role as the lender of last resort to banks facing a liquidity... Read More
Irish Banking Inquiry Part II: Reliance on Regulators foolish
The Irish Banking Inquiry is looking into the causes of and response to the Irish financial crisis. In doing so, it is... Read More
Irish Banking Inquiry Part 1: Regulatory Capture
While Greece is grabbing all the headlines, the Irish Banking Inquiry into the Irish financial crisis deserves its fair share of attention.... Read More
How many ways did bankers manipulate Libor?
The Libor interest rate manipulation trial has been fascinating for the sheer number of ways bankers manipulated the price of money for... Read More
Arrogance isn’t a defense
I am still amazed by the sheer amount of arrogance displayed by economists and finance professors. They remind me of the guy... Read More
Another day, another opaque market rigged by bankers
It seems like only yesterday and the large banks were paying fines for rigging the price of money (Libor), the foreign exchange... Read More
PwC auditor explains why transparency is necessary
The Irish Banking Inquiry turned to the bank auditors for an explanation of how the Irish banking system collapsed. In particular, the... Read More
Wall Street’s bad behavior to continue until transparency restored
In Transparency Games, I discuss a survey by the law firm of Labaton Sucharow. It found the more Wall Street bankers are... Read More
Lender of Last Resort
A bipartisan bill has been introduced by Senators Vitter and Warren that would change how the Fed could implement its lender of... Read More
Bankers, fines and the NE Patriots
There are lessons to be learned from the NFL and its attempt to “fine” the New England Patriots for cheating by under... Read More
Senator Warren and Lender of Last Resort
Senator Warren has decided to take on the Federal Reserve over its lender of last resort role. Specifically, in her speech, The... Read More
Bernanke has his Colonel Jessep moment
The splash page for Ben Bernanke’s new book, The Courage to Act, unmistakably parallels a wonderful scene from the movie A Few Good Men.... Read More
Regulators’ affinity for complex regulations
During the run-up to our recent financial crisis, deregulation was in vogue. However, since the crisis began, our global financial regulators have... Read More
Economists and transparency
There are two types of economists when the discussion turns to transparency. First, there are the economists who favor transparency. Second, there... Read More
Can bankers behave? Behind a veil of opacity, no
In an article in The Atlantic, William Cohan looks at a study conducted by three economists at the University of Zurich. The study... Read More