financial crisis
« Previous EntriesWall Street Financial Reform: Less than meets the eye on Financial Institutions, More than meets the eye on Oil Companies
Friday, July 16th, 2010
The 2,500 page long Dodd-Frank Financial Regulatory Reform Bill has passed through the United States Senate. The bill will now be signed into law by President Barack Obama. It signals a halt to the deregulatory process that the U.S. financial system has experienced for almost fifteen years.
The bill promises to strengthen consumer protection. In principle, it [...]
Greece and Volcanoes, BP Oil and Hurricanes
Saturday, May 29th, 2010 The earth’s wrath is ubiquitous these days, as vividly witnessed by the fiery eruptions of the Eyjafjallajokull, Turrialba and Arenal, Pacahua, and Tungurahua, the active volcanoes in Iceland, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Ecuador, respectively.
In ancient Greece, a volcano eruption was a sign of divine disapproval. It is unclear whether modern Greece has taken notice.
For better [...]
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will not be met unless governance improves
Friday, May 14th, 2010In 2000, the international community agreed on eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Among others, countries pledged to halve extreme poverty, achieve universal education, halt the spread of HIV/AIDS and reduce child and maternal mortality rates by 2015. Ahead of the UN’s upcoming September 2010 Summit on the MDGs, countries and aid donors have begun [...]
Corruption and Fiscal Deficits in Rich Countries
Tuesday, April 20th, 2010 Some of my research tends to challenge orthodoxy, such as taking issue with the claim that the developing ‘world’ is the corrupt one (contrasting wealthy nations); that corruption is largely about blatant bribery, and that corruption and macro-economic stability should be viewed separately from each other by different types of ‘experts’.
Right now I am committing the heresy of focusing on the [...]
Wall Street Reform and Beyond
Friday, April 16th, 2010 For years I have been arguing that regulatory and state capture is a major challenge in many countries, including in the US. I wrote papers, presented analysis and evidence, even argued the case to top executives at the World Economic Forum long ago.
All with limited success, other than getting some articles published in journals [...]
Breaking the Cycle of Crime and Corruption (while questioning existence of the cycle)
Wednesday, April 14th, 2010 The World Policy Journal asked for the views of a few of us on “How Can Nations Break the Cycle of Crime and Corruption?” I answered, in a just-published short piece, though I disagreed with the main premise behind such question: Crime and Corruption need not be inextricably linked, or party to a vicious cycle.
In [...]
What Happens in Cancun Shouldn’t Stay in Cancun: Toward Transparency at the Inter-American Development Bank
Friday, March 19th, 2010This weekend the Inter-American Development Bank (IaDB*) will hold its annual meetings in the popular Mexican resort city of Cancun. Much of the focus will be on the capital increase for the Bank, which made an original request for an increase that topped US$ 180 billion. Subsequent estimates of what the main shareholders may [...]
National Disasters Today Provide Governance Lessons
Monday, March 1st, 2010 Let us consider three countries:
Country 1: Its approach to industrialization has relied heavily on a very large public sector that accounts for well over 40 percent of GDP, and on aid financing from richer countries. The country has no fiscal discipline, running a deficit exceeding 13 percent of GDP. Rather, leaders have focused more [...]
State Capture by “Main Street”?: The Toyota Saga Accelerates
Thursday, February 11th, 2010A few days ago I argued that one ought not point a finger at Toyota alone for the ’sudden unintended acceleration’ (SUA) woes in their vehicles, and suggested that the problem also reflects the failure of the US Government regulatory agency (NHTSA) to do its job. At that time I provided incipient evidence that [...]
Regulatory Capture outside of Finance: NHTSA not just asleep at the Toyota wheel?
Friday, February 5th, 2010Plenty has been written on the role of financial institutions in the global crisis, and also in how they may have influenced their own generous rescue by the government. Many writings also touch on the ineffective role of the financial regulatory institutions. Some of the writings, including in this space, have suggested that such [...]
Misrule of Law Matters: Time to Reboot?
Thursday, January 21st, 2010A full fledged reboot of the Rule of Law and the Law and Development fields may be salutary, and it may also improve aid effectiveness. I am not a legal scholar, but alongside many legal experts was invited to join a Symposium on the Future of Law and Development. Valuable contributions ensued, now [...]
On the changing ethos at Goldman Sachs (they showed up to this meeting)
Wednesday, December 16th, 2009We know that key Wall Street investment bankers did not show up to this past Monday meeting called by President Obama. We just wrote about it. No such problem with no-shows in this other recent meeting held between the head of Goldman Sachs (Lloyd Blankfein, who was among those who did not make it [...]
Power shifting back from Washington to New York: Recapture of the State in the offing?
Tuesday, December 15th, 2009Imagine you hold a very high position in the US Government, in Washington, DC. And you believe it is important to talk to the top Wall Street bankers, to nudge them to be more modest about their bonuses, and more generous about their lending. You call a meeting with these top bankers in Washington. [...]
International Anti-Corruption Day 2009: An Hour of Silence to Reflect and Reboot
Wednesday, December 9th, 2009 As Wednesday, December 9th dawns, there is a dim reminder that one is supposed to ‘celebrate’ International Anti-Corruption. ‘Dim reminder’ to ‘celebrate’ in quotation marks indeed, because unfortunately anti-corruption continues to be largely in the back-burner for most world powers, for most international institutions, and for many of their leaders.
Or worse…
Nobel Prize in Economics: illusions from Tinbergen to Keynes
Tuesday, October 13th, 2009 Almost everything we know about the Nobel Prize may be wrong. High time to address illusions. And indulge on another.
1. Was Tinbergen awarded the first Nobel Prize in Economics? No, strictly speaking. Because there is no such thing as a Nobel Prize in Economics. Alfred Nobel did not envisage it, or endow any. Instead, well [...]