"An expert on financial markets and regulation explains how middlemen like Amazon, Walmart, and big banks have become so powerful and have entrenched their dominance in the market, providing tips for readers so they can engage in more direct, ethical purchasing."

This Article argues that information gaps—pockets of information that are pertinent and knowable but not currently known—are a byproduct of shadow banking and a meaningful source of systemic risk. It lays the foundation for this claim by juxtaposing the regulatory regime governing the shadow...

Ronald Coase and others writing in his wake typically assume that institutional arrangements evolve to minimize transaction costs. This Article draws attention to a powerful, market-based force that operates contrary to that core assumption: “intermediary influence.” The claim builds on...

This Article presents a case study in how complexity arising from the evolu- tion and proliferation of a financial innovation can increase systemic risk. The subject of the case study is the securitization of home loans, an innovation which played a critical and still not fully understood-role...

Intermediaries are a pervasive feature of modern economies. This article draws attention to an under-theorized cost arising from the use of specialized intermediaries — a systematic shift in the mix of transactions consummated. The interests of intermediaries are imperfectly aligned with the...