After a brief period during the financial crisis when countries appeared to be lurching towards economic nationalism, the international community has reaffirmed its commitment to open markets that are regulated in balanced ways that promote innovation while discouraging abuse. Hence, it remains...

The concept of regulatory systemic risk – a long-term imbalance, resulting from the misalignment between regulatory initiatives and market realities, that impacts multiple areas of the regulatory framework – is developed in the context of US securities regulation. The discussion offers two...

This paper considers the debate about the "macro-prudential regulation" of finance in the context of a broader view of the relation of finance to the real economy. Five ideas are central to the argument. The first idea is that the two dominant families of ideas about finance and its regulation...

A repurchase agreement (repo) is the sale of financial assets coupled with a promise to repurchase the same assets at a later date. With similar economic characteristics to secured loans and bank deposits, the repo market is one of the main sources of liquidity for the financial system. Having...

In an earlier companion essay, Regulating in the Dark, I contended that there is a systemic pattern in major U.S. financial regulation: (i) enactment is invariably crisis driven, adopted at a time when there is a paucity of information regarding what has transpired, (ii) resulting in...

Using the introduction of Arrowhead low latency trading platform by Tokyo Stock Exchange as a natural experiment, I analyze the impact of high frequency trading on market quality of J-REITs, in terms of liquidity, volatility, and systemic risks. I also analyze the impact of the 2008 financial...

Short sellers are routinely blamed for destabilizing stock markets by exacerbating deviations from fundamental values. In response, regulators periodically impose short sale constraints aimed at preventing excessive stock market declines. One explanation is that policy makers regard short...

This contribution addresses the impact of high-frequency electronic liquidity provision strategies on financial markets' intraday dynamics, by evaluating the interaction between multiple trading strategies within a computer laboratory, i.e. an artificial stock market. Initially, a realistic...