Banking's Past, Present, and Future
I have been named a 2013 Fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. During the tenure of the fellowship, I will conduct research on the evolution of banking regulation across countries and US states during the last 200 years. I hope and expect that this will lead to new insights about banking regulation and … Read more
On December 19 Standard and Poor’s raised its rating of Greek sovereign debt by six notches, to B-minus from selective default. The government’s decision to prosecute a statistician indicates that the upgrade was premature. According to S&P, the ratings change “balances our view of euro-zone member states’ determination to support Greece’s euro-zone membership and the … Read more
…with Chuck Coppoloa on First Business TV.
See my reaction to the Wheatley Report at Law360.com.
Follow this link for an interview with Greg Field at NerdWallet.com.
Hungary’s new constitution came into force on January 1. This was not good news. Engineered by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party, the new constitution has a number of unsavory elements. The Constitutional Court, which serves as a check on government power, has been weakened in several ways (e.g., packing it with new judges, having … Read more
Writing in today’s Wall Street Journal about how to reduce government spending, Columbia University economist and former chairman of George W. Bush’s Council of Economic Advisors R. Glenn Hubbard chooses to disregard some important facts. According to Hubbard, “President Obama’s answer is higher taxes.” Well, not exactly. What President Obama proposed was a combination of … Read more
Apparently, the Economist agrees with my emphasis on the rise of technocracy.
The institutions of government and the politicians who run them have–rightly–been criticized for many mistakes during the past few years. The Congressional budget deadlock this past summer is a case in point. The mismanagement at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, first publicized by the Washington Post in 2007, is another. No wonder why Gallup reports … Read more
The Wall Street Journal has demonstrated nostalgia for the gold standard by publishing two pro-gold standard opinion pieces this week. Both are long on nostalgia and short on analytical content. On Tuesday, long-time gold enthusiast Lewis Lehrman made his pitch, arguing that a return to the gold standard was necessary to restore fiscal balance. I … Read more