Law Commons^™

Rethinking Countercyclical Financial Regulation, Jeremy C. Kress, Matthew C. Turk

Georgia Law Review

The 2008 financial crisis exposed a longstanding problem in financial regulation: traditional regulatory strategies tend to be procyclical. That is, regulatory tools—most notably, bank capital requirements—incentivize excessive credit growth during economic expansions and insufficient lending during contractions. The procyclicality of U.S. financial regulation was a key driver of the housing bubble in the mid-2000s and the massive credit crunch that followed. To combat this phenomenon, Congress and the federal banking agencies attempted to mitigate procyclical boom-and-bust cycles by implementing regulatory approaches that were explicitly countercyclical. The Dodd-Frank Act and related post-crisis reforms included several countercyclical features that were designed to …

Blockchain Neutrality, Samuel N. Weinstein

Georgia Law Review

Blockchain technology is transforming how markets work.
Blockchains eliminate the need for trusted gatekeepers like
banks to execute, verify, and record transactions. In the
financial markets, their disruptive potential threatens both
Wall Street banks and Silicon Valley venture capitalists. How
blockchain technology is regulated will determine whether it
encourages or inhibits competition. Some blockchain
applications present serious fraud and systemic risks,
complicating regulation. This Article explores the antitrust and
competition policy challenges blockchain presents and proposes
a regulatory strategy, modeled on Internet regulation and net
neutrality principles, to unlock blockchain’s competitive
potential. It contends that financial regulators should promote
blockchain …

Eu Crypto Currency Regulation: Creating A Haven For Businesses Or For Criminals?, Blake Hamil

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Causing A Sanctions Violation With U.S. Dollars: Differences In Regulatory Language Across Ofac Sanctions Programs, Christine Abely

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Overlapping Legal Rules In Financial Regulation And The Administrative State, Matthew C. Turk

Georgia Law Review

Reforms which seek to overhaul the Dodd-Frank Act
have begun to gain support within the Trump
Administration and Congress. The leading proposals go
beyond technical matters and reflect a wholesale
critique: financial regulation has become too
burdensome, too complex, and grants too much
discretion to regulators. This Article argues that what is
really at stake in these debates is the distinct issue of
“regulatory overlap”—the joint use of multiple legal
rules to address a common market failure. It begins by
developing a general framework for analyzing
overlapping legal rules of all kinds. That framework is
then applied in case studies …

Regulating Bank Reputation Risk, Julie A. Hill

Georgia Law Review

In the aftermath of a school shooting in Florida, the
New York State bank regulator urged banks to manage
the “reputation risk” posed by doing business with the
National Rifle Association (a gun rights advocacy
group). As part of Operation Choke Point, a federal
regulator told banks to end relationships with payday
lenders because those activities posed “reputation risk.”
Another federal regulator warns banks their reputations
might be damaged by lending to oil and gas companies
that are perceived to cause environmental harm.
Reputation risk is the risk that bank stakeholders will
negatively change their perception of the bank. It …

Perfecting Bitcoin, Kevin V. Tu

Georgia Law Review

Bitcoin is still here. The price of Bitcoin rebounded-
setting a record high of $19,783.21 per Bitcoin in
December 2017 before dropping to a price of $8,690 per
Bitcoin as of March 22, 2018. Moreover, legal and
regulatory developments, like New York's BitLicense and
federal taxation of virtual currency as property, can be
viewed as legitimizing its use. The normalization of
virtual currency is evidenced by its increasingly
mainstream applications. Virtual currency can be used
as a faster and lower cost method of transferringfunds
domestically and internationally. A growing number of
retailers now accept virtual currency as a method of …

Assessing The Efficacy Of The Cfpb's Regulation Of Student Loan Companies, Ian E. Calhoun

Georgia Law Review

Outstanding student loan balances totaled over
$1.38 trillion as of December 31, 2017 with 11% of
student loan debt over ninety days delinquent or in
default. Due to half of all student loans being in
deferment, grace periods, or forbearance, the actual
delinquency rate is likely double the above figure.
Delinquent student borrowers enrolled in some form of
college education expect to improve their financial
position. Instead, many find themselves unable to break
even under the weight of large amounts of debt with
confusing, and often misleading, repayment plans.
Many blame the lending practices of student loan
providers and servicers …

The Sec Rides Into Town: Defining An Ico Securities Safe Harbor In The Cryptocurrency “Wild West”, C. Daniel Lockaby

Georgia Law Review

This Note recommends a viable way for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to apply the Regulation S foreign-issuer safe harbor to Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). In the last two years, cryptocurrencies and blockchain-based companies have witnessed dramatic rises in price and value. New entrants to the crypto-markets often use ICOs as virtual public offerings to earn capital and develop their projects.

The SEC has signaled that they plan to fold ICOs and blockchain offerings into existing securities law. How these new virtual capital-raising mechanisms will fit into this framework is still largely unknown. As a defensive measure, many ICOs …

The United Nations Convention On The Recognition And Enforcement Of Foreign Arbitral Awards: The First Four Years, A. Jason Mirabito

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Legal Aspects Of World Bank Participation In Mineral Exploitation Projects, David M. Sassoon

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Foreign Investment Protection And Icsid Arbitration, Charles Vuylsteke

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Legal Aspects Of Convertibility, Dr. Rainer Geiger

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

The Standard Investment Agreement: Text And Comments, Philippe Kahn

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Regulating Foreign-Based Institutions For Collective Investment: The German Statute, The American Experience, And The Oecd Standard Rules, Charles B. Robson Jr.

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Operational Autonomy And Public Accountability In Statutory Corporations: A Case Study Of Ghana’S Development Experience And A Blueprint For Reform, E. A. Botchwey

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

The Proper Reach Of Territorial Jurisdiction: A Case Study Of Divergent Attitudes, Philippe Schreiber

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

The Enduring Legacy Of Modern Efficient Market Theory After Halliburton V. John, Mark Klock

Georgia Law Review

In 1988 the U.S. Supreme Court approved the fraud on the market theory for securities trading in an efficient market thus enabling securities class action plaintiffs to establish their required reliance element of the case through a rebuttable presumption. Basic v. Levinson held that efficient markets incorporate publicly disseminated information and investors who purchased or sold securities in an efficient market therefore relied on any publicly disseminated misinformation. For more than a quarter century since Basic, the efficient market theory has sustained a barrage of assaults from commentators who object to the use of economic theory in legal decision making …

Underwriting Sustainable Homeownership: The Federal Housing Administration And The Low Down Payment Loan, David Reiss

Georgia Law Review

The United States Federal Housing Administration (FHA) has been a versatile tool of government since it was created during the Great Depression. The FHA was created in large part to inject liquidity into a moribund mortgage market. It succeeded wonderfully, with rapid growth during the late 1930s. The federal government repositioned it a number of times over the following decades to achieve a variety of additional social goals. These goals included supporting civilian mobilization during World War II; helping veterans returning from that war; stabilizing urban housing markets during the 1960s; and expanding minority homeownership rates during the 1990s. It …

The International Banking Act Of 1978: Federal Regulation Of Foreign Banks In The United States, Patrick F. Mcmahon

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

The Development Of Foreign Investment Law In Egypt And Its Effect On Private Foreign Investment, George E. Bushnell Iii

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Current Legal Matters Affecting Central Banks, Robert C. Effros

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

The Dean Rusk Award 1983-1984: The Export Trading Company Act Of 1982: Theory And Application, Mark Grambergs

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Sources Of Export Financing, Thomas Graham

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Foreign Debt - Act Of State Doctrine - Unilateral Deferral Of Obligations By Debtor Nations Is Inconsistent With United States Law And Policy: Allied Bank International V. Banco Credito Agricola De Cartago, Marc J. Lewyn

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Buying Time In Spain: The Spanish Law Of Installment Sales, John M. Steadman

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Securities Regulations Investigations - United States-Swiss Treaty Attempts To Increase Cooperation In Releasing Names Of Swiss-Based Account Holders Involved In United States Securities And Exchange Commission Investigations, Daniel B. Simon Iii

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Annual Survey Of Developments In International Trade Law: 1985, Georgia Journal Of International And Comparative Law

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

The Export Trade Note: A New Instrument For International Trade, Eugene A. Ludwig, Michael J. Coursey

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

The Risks Of Shadow Insurance, Daniel Schwarcz

Georgia Law Review

Shadow banking - often defined as financial intermediation that provides maturity transformation outside of the formal confines of a bank'-played a central role in causing the 2008 financial crisis. For this reason, a 2013 report of the New York Department of Financial Services generated substantial controversy when it labeled some life insurers' practices of reinsuring insurance policies with affiliated captive insurers as "shadow insurance." Yet the moniker of shadow insurance was not without at least some justification. Like shadow banking, life insurers' reinsurance of policies with affiliated captives is a form of regulatory arbitrage that moves traditional insurance risks from …