The history of regulation in America is as old as the republic itself. Since colonial times, Americans have struggled with the conflict between the desire for individual freedom and economic growth, and the need for rules and structure in a civil society. The evolution of the United States from...

There is disagreement about whether large and complex financial institutions should be allowed to use US bankruptcy law to reorganise when they get into financial difficulty. We look at the events surrounding the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy filing for lessons as to whether bankruptcy law could be...

This article argues that bank supervision sits at the center of two foundational tensions in the governance of American finance. The first is the extent to which the financial system is controlled by public actors (i.e., the government) or private actors (i.e., the banks). The second is the...

Fraud and irrationality are often blamed for financial manias and panics. Investor euphoria can unleash social and technological breakthroughs, but the subsequent failures can destroy value and radicalize the political sphere. Are these events random, idiosyncratic, or driven by some force? The...

I use the global crisis of 1914 as a window onto the phenomenon of investor reaction to complex news — such as sudden political upheaval. Based on a novel database of all stocks traded on the NYSE during 1914, along with “real-time” news accounts from major newspapers, I show that NYSE...

The vast majority of case law establishes that, in the absence of a specific agreement to the contrary, the deposit of funds into a bank creates a debtor-creditor relationship, pursuant to which depositors are deemed creditors of their respective banks. In effect, depositors loan their deposits...

In 1936, regulators unexpectedly banned banks from purchasing “speculative” bonds. This announcement caused a sudden persistent rise in speculative bond yields, even comparing securities within the same firm. In contrast to prior evidence during credit booms, I document a substantial decline...

An important tenet of a burgeoning 'law and finance' literature is that stock market development is contingent upon corporate law offering ample protection to shareholders. This paper addresses this claim, using as its departure point developments occurring in the United States between 1930 and...

In this essay, I try to rebut some of the skepticism about the possibility of business narrative, not directly (by engaging the theory), but obliquely (by giving an example of the practice). I hope to illuminate a few aspects of the utility of business narrative by examining the telling of a...