art I: The benefits of free financial markets -- Does finance benefit only the rich? -- Shylock transformed -- The financial revolution and individual economic freedom -- The dark side of finance -- The bottom line on financial development -- Part II: When do financial markets emerge? -- The...

The Dodd-Frank Act will eliminate the requirement that credit products must be rated before they can be sold to banks and pension funds. Supporters argue that if the information in ratings is valuable, issuers or investors will choose to buy the information, even without the requirement. But...

This article explores the effect of delays in updating prudential regulation on countries' likelihood of experiencing banking crises, and it disentangles the impact of different aspects of regulation on crisis onset. I argue that delays in revising banks' prudential regulation allow banks to...