Category Archives: financial regulation

An Economic Platform for the Democrats

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May 27, 2018 — Democrats are gearing up for the November mid-term elections, in which they hope to take back the US House of Representatives.  Candidates are finding that the voters are not necessarily paying close attention to foreign affairs or even Trump scandals, and are more concerned about “pocketbook issues.”   The conventional wisdom still stands:  underlying the shock election of Mr Trump was the worry by the median household that it has been left behind by globalization and technological change and that the gains have been going to the rich instead. read more

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Explaining Dodd-Frank

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September 8, 2017 —   Nine years ago this month, the US sub-prime mortgage crisis morphed into a severe global financial crisis.  Many Americans across the political spectrum angrily demanded financial reform, by which they meant a tightening of financial regulation.  Indeed, important reforms were subsequently enacted, in particular the 2010 Dodd-Frank bill.

Today, those reforms are increasingly under assault.  Most recently, the Trump Administration is proposing a roll-back of regulation of banks as well as of other financial institutions.  The recent decisions of Fed Governors Stan Fischer and Dan Tarullo to retire are also worrisome signs. read more

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The Case against Subsidizing Housing Debt

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SINGAPORE (May 30, 2017)– At the end of the first quarter, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, American consumer debt for the first time exceeded its previous peak (in dollars).  That peak was in the 3rd quarter of 2008, just as the global financial crisis hit.  Although car loans and student debt have been rising especially rapidly, housing debt remains more than 2/3 of the total ($8.6 trillion out of $12.7 trillion).

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