Law Commons^™

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.

It's Time For A Public Option In Banking, Mehrsa Baradaran

Popular Media

Associate Professor Mehrsa Baradaran published this article in The Harvard Law Record on November 16, 2015. It discusses how post offices can provide ordinary citizens with banking services.

How The Us Post Office Can Save America—And Itself, Matt Phillips

Popular Media

Professor Mehrsa Baradaran is interviewed by Quartz on her thoughts about postal banking.

If The U.S. Government Treated Poor People As Well As It Treats Banks, Mehrsa Baradaran

Popular Media

One of the great ironies in modern America is that the less money you have, the more you pay to use it. The country’s “unbanked” must pay high fees to fringe banks to turn their paychecks into cash, pay their monthly bills, or send money to a spouse or a child. The unbanked pay much of their income—up to 10 percent—just to use their money. For these families, the total price of simple financial services each month is more than they spend on food. Indeed, it is very expensive to be poor. This article makes a proposal, transform underused post …

Postal Banking: A Lifesaver For America's Poor, Mehrsa Baradaran

Popular Media

If banks are not providing credit to the poor, the state should provide it directly.The existing post office framework represents the most promising path toward effectuating such a public option. American banks long ago deserted their most impoverished communities, but post offices, even two centuries later, have remained — still rooted in an egalitarian mission. There have never been barriers to entry at post offices, and their services have been available to all, regardless of income.

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.

Hold The Champagne On Ge Capital's Breakup, Mehrsa Baradaran

Popular Media

General Electric announced last week plans to sell off the bulk of its financing arm, GE Capital. Some have claimed that this move is a win for regulators trying to curb "too big to fail" conglomerates and suggested it's a sign that financial reform is working. I'm not so sure. I think it just means that the conglomerates left standing are now even more homogeneous and risk-prone.

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.

Maggie Walker's Bank, Mehrsa Baradaran

Popular Media

Maggie Walker was the first woman of any race to own a bank. What makes this achievement remarkable is that she was born in 1867 to a former slave in Richmond, Va. Her mother was widowed and left destitute when her father was murdered. She and her mother survived by doing laundry for whites families in the area, an experience that shaped her understanding of wealth and race inequality. But Maggie was a brilliant student and finished high school at 16. She became a teacher, but was forced to quit when she married as it was unlawful for married women …

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 …

The Financial Industry's Plan For Resolving Failed Megabanks Will Ensure Future Bailouts For Wall Street, Arthur E. Wilmarth Jr.

Georgia Law Review

Wall Street has achieved a remarkable political comeback from the financial crisis of 2007-2009. Public anger over bailouts of large financial institutions spurred Congress to pass the Dodd- Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd- Frank) in July 2010.1 Megabanks, however, used their political influence to weaken Dodd-Frank's provisions, and they have pursued a determined campaign since 2010 to undermine Dodd- Frank's implementation. A primary goal of Dodd-Frank is to end "too big to fail" (TBTF) treatment for systemically important financial institutions (SIFIs) and their creditors. During the debates over Dodd-Frank, however, Wall Street defeated two major initiatives …

Bank Regulation And Securitization: How The Law Improved Transmission Lines Between Real Estate And Banking Crises, Erik F. Gerding

Georgia Law Review

Financial crises take many forms. Real estate crises can devastate economies.' So too can bank crises. Stock market crashes can precipitate crises of their own. The "subprime crisis" represents the confluence and worst of all three; like three cyclones merging together in warm offshore waters, these three kinds of crises generated even more destructive force when conjoined. The panic that took shape in U.S. real estate and capital markets in 2007 represents another example in a long historical line of intertwined banking and real estate crises. Securitization served as a new coupling rod joining cycles in real estate and banking …

From Fedspeak To Forward Guidance: Regulatory Dimensions Of Central Bank Communications, Robert B. Ahdieh

Georgia Law Review

Let's pause here and note what this moment represented. For the first time, the [Federal Open Market] Committee was using communication-mere words-as its primary monetary policy tool. Until then, it was probably common to think of communication about future policy as something that supplemented the setting of the federal funds rate. In this case, communication was an independent and effective tool for influencing the economy. The FOMC had journeyed from "never explain" to a point where sometimes the explanation is the policy. - Janet L. Yellen'

In late 2008, as the full impact the Global Financial Crisis would have on …

Post-Crisis Reform Of The Supervisory System And High Reliability Theory, Robert F. Weber

Georgia Law Review

Post-crisis reforms of the financial supervisory system have focused on improving the resilience of individual firms and promoting containment of problems in the event that an individual firm does fail. Both resilience and containment are hallmarks of "high reliability organizations" (HROs), a class of organizations distinguished by their ability to maintain reliable performance in dynamic operating conditions.' In the organizational context, resilience is about making organizations more robust to unexpected problems and stresses, and able to maintain performance across a wide range of unanticipated stressed outcomes. Containment is about isolating organizational failures so that when they occur, they do not …

The Evolving Role Of Economic Analysis In Sec Rulemaking, Joshua T. White

Georgia Law Review

Recently, the SEC has come under great scrutiny for how it conducts economic analysis around rulemakings, especially those associated with the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank or the Dodd-Frank Act) Dodd-Frank tasked the SEC with more than 100 rulemaking provisions. Perhaps no criticism had a more profound effect than the D.C. Circuit's decision in Business Roundtable v. SEC, which struck down the SEC's proxy access rule due to inadequate economic analysis.

Regulations are imperfect. They cannot be costlessly executed or enforced. Regulators also lack full information on the actual costs and benefits of proposed policies. For …

Politics In Securities Enforcement, Urska Velikonja

Georgia Law Review

American securities enforcement agencies often face charges that they use their enforcement power to further political goals.' Most recently, Standard & Poor's credit rating agency claimed that the U.S. Department of Justice unfairly singled it out for prosecution for fraudulent credit ratings after it downgraded U.S. sovereign debt. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or the Commission), too, has been accused of using its enforcement politically: of bringing enforcement actions to improve its political standing, to punish its detractors, or to deflect attention from negative reports about its activities; and of holding back investigations of politically-connected figures.

Keynote Reflections: The Public Governance Duty, Steven L. Schwarcz

Georgia Law Review

There has been real frustration with the SEC and other government agencies for not holding individuals responsible for the excessive risk-taking that was a principal cause of the 2008 to 2009 global financial crisis (Financial Crisis) and its associated banking failures. Enforcement has focused instead on the financial firms themselves. But being managed by individuals, firms themselves are the second-best targets of deterrence. Targeting managers in their personal capacity is thus widely viewed as a greater, and perhaps a more optimal, deterrent than firm-level liability. Better deterrence is critical because insufficient deterrence could sow the seeds-as may already be occurring-for …

Regulating Angels, Heidi M. Schooner

Georgia Law Review

Since the Financial Crisis, a common narrative casts the largest, too-big-to-fail (TBTF) banks as villains1 and community banks as darlings. On the one hand is the image of the infamous mega banks that brought the economy to its knees and continue to profit while the rest of society sputters, and on the other hand is the angelic community banker (think Jimmy Stewart in It's a Wonderful Life) working tirelessly to provide the last bastion of hope for small, job-creating, businesses and other worthy borrowers. Advocates for these innocent small banks point to the crushing regulatory burden imposed on institutions that …