The past few years have demonstrated that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two mortgage giants, were built on a flawed business model. One that paired private profit in good times with taxpayer burdens in bad times; created systemic risks to the world financial system; concealed the degree of federal involvement in mortgage markets; and [...]
Archive for the ‘Regulation’ Category
What Should We Do with Fannie and Freddie?
Posted in Budget, Finance, Regulation, tagged Fannie Mae, Finance, Freddie Mac, GSE, Regulation on May 23, 2010 | 8 Comments »
A Useful Primer on Derivatives Regulation
Posted in Finance, Regulation, tagged Derivatives, Finance, Regulation on April 23, 2010 | 1 Comment »
Bob Litan of the Brookings Institution recently penned an excellent overview of the issues surrounding derivatives regulation, with a particular focus on credit default swaps (CDS). ”The Derivative Dealers’ Club and Derivatives Markets Reform: A Guide for Policy Makers, and Other Interested Parties,” is really two pieces in one: a primer on derivatives policy and a [...]
Mythical Budget Savings from Cutting TARP
Posted in Budget, Finance, Regulation, tagged Budget, Finance, Regulation, TARP on December 9, 2009 | 9 Comments »
The TARP news continues fast and furious. This afternoon’s installment involves the House’s financial regulation bill, officially known as H.R. 4173, the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009. That bill would make many changes to financial regulation, one of which – enhanced dissolution authority for financial firms that run into severe trouble [...]
John Smith: “I Made $1 Million Reading dmarron.com”*
Posted in Regulation, tagged Regulation on November 12, 2009 | 12 Comments »
*Results not typical. Over at Managerial Econ, Luke Froeb highlights a new FTC initiative to crack down on testimonial advertising. Its target? Ads that highlight extreme results (“I lost 100 pounds eating Wonder chocolate”), without revealing what typical results look like. The FTC won’t forbid firms from highlighting extreme results, but if they do, they will also have [...]
Wall Street Goes to Washington
Posted in Economy, Finance, Politics, Regulation, Uncategorized, tagged Banks, Economics, Fannie Mae, FDIC, Federal Reserve, Finance, Freddie Mac, J.P. Morgan, Lehman, Pimco, Politics, Regulation, TARP on September 13, 2009 | 2 Comments »
A front page story in today’s Washington Post (“In Shift, Wall Street Goes to Washington“) documents the Capital’s rising importance in the financial world: J.P. Morgan Chase for the first time convened its board in Washington this summer, calling the directors to a meeting at the downtown Hay-Adams hotel, then dispatching them to Capitol Hill [...]
Bending the Curve: Redefining Health Insurance
Posted in Health, Politics, Regulation, tagged Brookings, Health, Insurance, Politics, Regulation on September 3, 2009 | 12 Comments »
Over the past few months, a politically-diverse group of health policy experts has been pondering a key question: what are the “specific, feasible steps” that policymakers could use to reduce the growth of health spending? In short, how can we bend the curve? The fruits of their labor were published by the Brookings Institution on [...]
Follow-up: Defense, Mortgage Modifications, and Yahoo/Microsoft
Posted in Budget, Economy, Finance, Internet, Macroeconomics, Politics, Regulation, Technology, tagged Antitrust, Budget, Defense, Finance, Microsoft, Mortgage, Politics, Search, Yahoo on July 30, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
This morning’s headlines include some important follow-ups to recent posts: I recently cheered the Obama administration’s success (so far) in fighting off excess spending on the F-22 fighter. However, business-as-usual is still the rule in Washington, as the Washington Post reports that the House will soon vote on a defense appropriations bill that is loaded [...]
Bing Bounces Onto Yahoo
Posted in Internet, Regulation, Technology, tagged Antitrust, Google, Microsoft, Search, Yahoo on July 30, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Yesterday’s deal between Microsoft and Yahoo is a big boost for Bing. Microsoft’s new engine will power search on Yahoo, raising its visibility and, perhaps, eating into Google’s market leadership. If the stock market is any guide, Microsoft is getting the better of the deal. As Techcrunch notes, Yahoo’s stock fell 12% on the day, [...]
Google and Antitrust
Posted in Internet, Regulation, Technology, tagged Antitrust, Google, Microsoft, Regulation, Search, Wired, Wolfram Alpha on July 18, 2009 | 5 Comments »
The August Wired has a nice article about the increased antitrust scrutiny that Google is facing. (Updated July 28, 2009 I would usually insert a link to the article, but I couldn’t find one online; sorry, but I am working from the dead-tree-and-ink version that the postman dropped off.) Early on, the article notes some ironies [...]
Standing Firm on Auto Dealers
Posted in Budget, Politics, Regulation, tagged Auto, Budget, Chrysler, Defense, GM, Politics on July 16, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Over the past year, the U.S. government has acquired an unprecedented investment portfolio, including a majority stake in GM and a large ownership stake in Chrysler. These investments have raised a plethora of difficult policy challenges. One of the most important is the ongoing risk that private business decisions may get transformed into public policy [...]
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