There is no question that we need changes in our health sector. But numerous independent studies have shown that the Affordable Care Act will fail to achieve its goals and will cause harm by trying to inflict too much change too suddenly. Medicaid and job-based health insurance are just two...

There is a conflict between the philosophies of United States (US) style capital regulation and that of the European Union (EU). While the conflict looks like it will not evolve into a real trade issue, there is a potential for misunderstanding of the pros and cons of the two systems. This paper...

This paper provides an overview of the rationale and options for federal intervention in insurance regulation. Despite a number of positive and incremental reforms throughout the past decade, several key aspects of state insurance regulation, including regulation of rates, rate classification,...

This paper explores the evolution of American economic policy since the New Deal. It argues that an accumulation of statist institutions and policies since World War II have led to the latest financial crisis in the housing sector. The paper then makes proposals with respect to fiscal policy,...

The financial market events in September 2008 seem unprecedented in modern times. While other systemically important events happened in the last thirty years affecting U.S. markets, the one month turmoil and government response is without equal. As a result, insurance industry economists have...

This brief evaluates the supervisory-process and market-discipline pillars of the Basel II bank regulatory framework. It reviews and critiques their fundamental features and reaches three conclusions. First, the supervisory-process pillar provides too much scope for supervisory discretion and...

The title "shadow banking system" sounds pejorative and certainly is in the minds of most people who work in or watch the business of money and credit. In the world of subprime real estate, abuse of private financial vehicles with insurance enhancements and ratings led to the collapse of the...

This paper draws on the progress that has occurred in other areas of regulation -- specifically, the "cap-and-trade" program to control SO2 emissions; spectrum auctions; and "dedicated-access-privilege" programs for fisheries - to suggest that financial regulation would benefit from an expanded...

Debates continue among Congressional members and industry leaders regarding the form of insurance regulation in the U.S. Regardless the form of regulation they support – state regulation, national regulation or optional federal chartering – they all agree that the insurance industry must be...

This paper discusses the SEC's regulation of the bond rating industry. Until a few years ago this specific branch of SEC regulation was largely unknown outside the agency and the bond rating industry itself, even among knowledgeable Washington insiders. But the SEC has actually regulated the...