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Full-Text Articles in Law
Keynote Address: Understanding The ‘Subprime’ Financial Crisis, Steven L. Schwarcz
Keynote Address: Understanding The ‘Subprime’ Financial Crisis, Steven L. Schwarcz
Faculty Scholarship
No abstract provided.
Keynote Address: The Case For A Market Liquidity Provider Of Last Resort, Steven L. Schwarcz
Keynote Address: The Case For A Market Liquidity Provider Of Last Resort, Steven L. Schwarcz
Faculty Scholarship
This short paper, prepared as a keynote address, explains why the credit crunch is fundamentally a story about financial markets, not banks. Its cause was a collapse of securitization and other debt markets, which have become major sources of financing for consumers and companies. Deprived of this financing, consumers have had difficulty purchasing homes and automobiles, and companies have had difficulty purchasing inventory and making capital investments, causing the real economy to shrink. This paper examines how these financial markets should be protected. Although already subject to many prescriptive regulatory protections, these markets evolve faster than regulation can adapt. The …
The Return Of The Rogue, Kimberly D. Krawiec
The Return Of The Rogue, Kimberly D. Krawiec
Faculty Scholarship
The “rogue trader”—a famed figure of the 1990s—recently has returned to prominence due largely to two phenomena. First, recent U.S. mortgage market volatility spilled over into stock, commodity, and derivative markets worldwide, causing large financial institution losses and revealing previously hidden unauthorized positions. Second, the rogue trader has gained importance as banks around the world have focused more attention on operational risk in response to regulatory changes prompted by the Basel II Capital Accord. This Article contends that of the many regulatory options available to the Basel Committee for addressing operational risk it arguably chose the worst: an enforced selfregulatory …
Regulating Complexity In Financial Markets, Steven L. Schwarcz
Regulating Complexity In Financial Markets, Steven L. Schwarcz
Faculty Scholarship
As the financial crisis has tragically illustrated, the complexities of modern financial markets and investment securities can trigger systemic market failures. Addressing these complexities, this Article maintains, is perhaps the greatest financial-market challenge of the future. The Article first examines and explains the nature of these complexities. It then analyzes the regulatory and other steps that should be considered to reduce the potential for failure. Because complex financial markets resemble complex engineering systems, and failures in those markets have characteristics of failures in those systems, the Article‟s analysis draws on chaos theory and other approaches used to analyze complex engineering …
The Coroner’S Inquest: Ecuador’S Default And Sovereign Bond Documentation, Mitu Gulati, Lee C. Buchheit
The Coroner’S Inquest: Ecuador’S Default And Sovereign Bond Documentation, Mitu Gulati, Lee C. Buchheit
Faculty Scholarship
Conventional wisdom is that sovereigns will rarely, if ever, default on their external debts in circumstances where it is clear that they have the capacity to pay. The first line of defense against the errant sovereign is its concern about reputation. It may have to tap the external debt markets again in the future; and there is the fear that the markets will extract revenge. But reputational constraints do not always work because some governments heavily discount future costs in favor of current benefits. When reputational constraints fail, however, a second line of defense is supposed to come into play. …
The ‘Principles’ Paradox, Steven L. Schwarcz
The ‘Principles’ Paradox, Steven L. Schwarcz
Faculty Scholarship
This essay, prepared for a University of Cambridge conference on ‘Principles Versus Rules in Financial Regulation’, posits a new issue in that debate. Although principles-based regulation is thought to more closely achieve normative goals than rules, the extent to which that occurs can depend on the enforcement regime. A person who is subject to unpredictable liability is likely to hew to the most conservative interpretation of the principle, especially where that person would be a potential deep pocket in litigation. This creates a paradox: unless protected by a regime enabling one in good faith to exercise judgment without fear of …
The Future Of Securitization, Steven L. Schwarcz
The Future Of Securitization, Steven L. Schwarcz
Faculty Scholarship
Securitization, a process in which firms can raise low-cost financing by efficiently allocating asset risks with investor appetite for risk, has been one of the most dominant and fastest-growing means of capital formation in the United States and the world. The subprime financial crisis, however, has revealed certain defects with how securitization is sometimes utilized. This article examines these defects and the extent they can, and should, be remedied going forward.