Financial regulators should use cost-benefit analysis (CBA) to evaluate financial regulations. Finance is an ideal domain for CBA because the direct costs and benefits of financial activity can be easily monetized, and a huge amount of data exists for calculating the relevant valuations. John...

The past three decades have been characterized by vast change and crises in global financial markets—and not in politically unstable countries but in the heart of the developed world, from the Great Recession in the United States to the banking crises in Japan and the Eurozone. As we try to...

The transformation of the financial system -- Crisis -- The lawfulness of the rescue -- The trial of AIG -- Fannie and Freddie -- The bankruptcies of General Motors and Chrysler -- Takings and government action in emergencies -- Politics and reform.

Eric A. Posner argues that bailouts, like those that took place during the 2008-2009 financial crisis, have happened in the past and that they are both "necessary and unavoidable in any modern capitalist or market-based system." Posner analyzes bailouts from economic, political, and legal...

Introduction / Edward L. Glaeser, Tano Santos, and E. Glen Weyl -- Stochastic compounding and uncertain valuation / Lars Peter Hansen and José A. Scheinkman -- The good banker / Patrick Bolton -- How to implement contingent capital / Albert S. Kyle -- Bankruptcy laws and collateral regulation:...

During the height of the financial crisis in 2008 and 2009, the government bailed out numerous corporations, including banks, investment banks, and automobile manufacturers. While the bailouts helped end the financial crisis, they were intensely controversial at the time, and were marred by the...