Deregulated banking in rich countries delivers more “investment” in speculative asset markets, not productive businesses.
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When We Outsource Privacy Compliance, We May Undermine Privacy Protection
Privacy law is currently being shaped and implemented by a new industry of third-party tech vendors. These companies code their own interpretations of privacy laws into the designs of their products, but many are doing so without legal expertise.
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Self-Regulation and the Video Game Industry: A New Stigler Center Case Study
A new Stigler Center case study explores questions surrounding the ESRB, the self-regulatory body responsible for assigning age and content ratings to video games.
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Schumpeter and Brexit: Same Old Story, Different Ending
Joseph Schumpeter wouldn’t have been surprised by Brexit, but would blame British elites for putting it to a referendum and then walking away from the consequences.
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“Economics Now Points Away From the Laissez-Faire Approach”
Columbia professor Suresh Naidu on Economics for Inclusive Prosperity, the new initiative he launched with Dani Rodrik and Gabriel Zucman, and why he believes economics shouldn’t be conflated with neoliberalism.
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Watch: Raghuram Rajan on How Markets and States Leave Communities Behind
In a recent Stigler Center conversation with Luigi Zingales, Rajan talked about his new book The Third Pillar and explained why today’s populists “are asking the right question” but providing only wrong answers.
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The Costs of Trump’s Import Tariffs Have Landed Entirely on US Citizens
US importers and consumers experienced $12.3 billion in added tax costs and another $6.9 billion from unrecoverable reductions in welfare arising from the 2018 tariffs, new study finds.
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The Anticompetitive Effects of Current Capital Regulation
Some features of the capital regulation that was designed to increase the safety of the financial system may have unintended consequences on the competitive environment, argues new study.
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The Nation-State: The Common Root of Our Failure to Deal with High Global Inequality and Climate Change
Inequality and climate change are both global problems that cannot be solved by a single country. Yet we are stuck with the political limitations of the nation-state.
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How Finance Affects Income Inequality
There is mounting evidence that income inequality and disparities in wealth have been rising in advanced economies in the recent decades. Using data on advanced and emerging economies, this column investigates the link between an economy’s financial structure—that is, the mix of bank-provided versus market-provided funds—and income inequality. Results show that the relationship is not monotonic. More finance reduces income inequality up to a point, but beyond that point inequality rises, especially if finance is expanded via market-based financing.
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Amazon’s Latest Supplier Purge Is a Classic Indicator of Price Predation
Regulators in Washington should immediately launch an investigation into Amazon’s e-commerce business.
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Regulators Should Not Change the Regulatory Environment to Include Labor Market Concentration
Research has shown that labor markets with higher levels of labor market concentration have lower wages. It does not necessarily follow that regulators should limit merger activity because of labor market concentration.
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