The challenge of financial inclusion is among the most intractable policy problems in banking. Despite living in the world’s wealthiest economy, many Americans are shut out of the financial system. Five percent of American households lack a bank account, and an additional thirteen percent rely on expensive and sometimes predatory fringe financial services, such as check cashers […]
The United States has delegated the responsibility of keeping the lights on to a self-regulatory organization called the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC). Although NERC is a crucial example of industry-led governance—and regulates in an area that is central to our economy and basic human survival—this unusual institution has received scant attention from policymakers and scholars. Such attention […]
So-called passive index funds—investment funds that are designed to track a pre-specified underlying index—have become a dominant force in the investing landscape, collectively controlling over $12 trillion in assets. It is widely assumed that these funds are obligated to follow their underlying index, and that fund managers cannot, or do not, select portfolios that deviate […]
Conventional wisdom is that the standardized boilerplate terms used in large commercial markets survive unchanged because they are an optimal solution to the contracting problems facing parties in these markets. As Smith and Warner explained, “harmful heuristics, like harmful mutations, will die out.” But an examination of a sample of current sovereign bond contracts reveals […]
This Article is part of a special issue comprised of a series of Articles prepared by a collection of economists and policy experts in the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union who have studied––and are committed to the improvement of––competition in digital markets. For other Articles in this issue, please click here.
This Article is part of a special issue comprised of a series of Articles prepared by a collection of economists and policy experts in the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union who have studied––and are committed to the improvement of––competition in digital markets. For other Articles in this issue, please click here.
This Article is part of a special issue comprised of a series of Articles prepared by a collection of economists and policy experts in the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union who have studied––and are committed to the improvement of––competition in digital markets. For other Articles in this issue, please click here.
This Article is part of a special issue comprised of a series of Articles prepared by a collection of economists and policy experts in the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union who have studied––and are committed to the improvement of––competition in digital markets. For other Articles in this issue, please click here.
This Article is part of a special issue comprised of a series of Articles prepared by a collection of economists and policy experts in the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union who have studied––and are committed to the improvement of––competition in digital markets. For other Articles in this issue, please click here.
To open bank accounts, new customers provide personal information and make a deposit. Within a few minutes (or perhaps a few days), new customers get access to payment services. For many years, the process financial institutions used to open accounts at Federal Reserve Banks was similar. Eligible banks filled out a one-page form and within […]
This Article identifies problems and opportunities at the intersection of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and corporate crime and compliance. In M&A, criminal successor liability is of particular importance, because it is quantitatively less predictable and qualitatively more threatening to buyers than successor liability in tort or contract. Private successor liability requires a buyer to bear […]
Rate-regulated public utilities own and operate one-third of U.S generators and nearly all the transmission and distribution system. These firms receive special regulatory treatment because they are protected from competition and subject to rate caps. In the past decade, they also have been at the center of high- profile corporate scandals. They have bribed regulators […]
While the rise of dual-class companies—companies like Facebook, Google, and Visa, which have two or more classes of common stock that differ in voting rights—has been widely observed over the past decade, prior commentators have largely overlooked the important “equal treatment” agreements that are embedded in many dual-class charters. Equal treatment agreements require that stockholders are treated […]
Although the whistleblower programs (WBPs) created by Dodd-Frank have received universal acclaim, little is known about how they actually work. In 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) received an average of forty-nine whistleblower tips every workday. Success depends on sifting through this avalanche of tips to determine which ones to investigate. To date, however, […]
“Public interest” standards in statutory delegations to agencies represent the greatest hopes and the darkest fears of the U.S. administrative state. On the one hand, the public interest standard provides a vessel for agencies to infuse policymaking with the moral and ethical commitments of the community. On the other hand, regulation in the public interest opens […]