The U.S. Congress is evaluating several proposals to reform the federal income tax system. Proponents of tax reform want to simplify tax preparation and stimulate economic growth by increasing the incentives for taxpayers to work, save, and invest. While the primary objective of tax reform is a...

Securities trading has generated some of the most sensational scandals in the popular business press. In one of the most publicized cases of insider trading, in the late 1980s Michael R. Milken and Ivan F. Boesky were sentenced to stiff prison terms and payment of enormous damage assessments and...

Auctions, as selling mechanisms, have existed for well over two thousand years. Today, one of the most important auction markets in the world is that of U.S. Treasury securities; approximately $2 trillion worth of Treasury securities was auctioned in 1995. ; A long-standing debate has been about...

World financial markets have experienced tremendous growth in recent years. New financial instruments have emerged, transaction volumes in markets has skyrocketed, and capital flows across countries have risen dramatically. While these developments have made financial markets more efficient,...

Advances in communications and information management, combined with new developments in financial theory, will radically alter the way that financial services are delivered in the next century. This is the view of Charles Sanford, Chairman of Bankers Trust, as expressed in his luncheon address...

In a speech delivered this spring to the Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City and to the CS First Boston Corporation Global Banking Conference in New York City, Henry Kaufman predicted that the latest swings in bond and stock prices are likely to be merely a prologue to...

The volatility of financial markets in recent years has led to increased concern. As trading of financial assets on organized exchanges and over-the-counter markets has grown, events such as the 1987 stock market crash and the 1992 Exchange Rate Mechanism crisis in Europe have raised fundamental...

In recent years, revolutionary changes in financial markets, combined with incidents such as Barings and Daiwa, have revived concerns about the adequacy of financial regulation. Historically, financial regulatory policy has been driven by the view that to maintain the health of the financial...

The increasingly integrated global economy presents policymakers with both opportunities and challenges. Global economic integration is widely thought to improve the allocation of resources, promote technology transfer, and enhance living standards. But, at the same time, economic integration...

Over the past three decades, we have experienced an increased number of financial crises in many countries around the world. These crises have taken place in many different parts of the financial system, including: banking and payments systems, housing finance systems, securities markets, and...