Regulatory Capture

How Market Power Leads to Corporate Political Influence

Neoclassical economic theory assumes that firms have no power to influence the rules of the game. A new paper by Luigi Zingales argues: This is...

Spoiled Meat Scandal Reveals the Influence of Business and Media on Brazil's Politics

The recently-released secret taping of a conversation between Brazil’s president Michel Temer and one of the country's most prominent businessmen reveals the extent to which big business...

What Drives Bank Bailouts? Study Shows That Political Interests Play a Major Role

New paper finds that political and personal interests have a major impact on politicians’ decisions regarding bank bailouts. In his memoir Stress Test (Crown, 2014), former Treasury...

How Financial Regulations Can Create Barriers to Entry: The Case of Cumplo in Chile

A new Stigler Center case study chronicling the story of Chile’s first crowdfunding platform and its early regulatory challenges illustrates how financial regulations can be...

Study: Politicians Vote Against the Will of Their Constituents 35 Percent of the Time

New Stigler Center working paper: “To the extent that legislators represent majority opinion, it happens largely because legislators share the opinions of their constituents,...

Will PwC Throw the Red Card on its Swiss Firm Over FIFA?

PwC took over as auditor of the corruption-plagued global football body last year, with the intention of  reforming it. So how is it that...

Is Direct Democracy Better Able to Withstand the Influence of Special Interests?

A new Stigler Center working paper looks into the effects of referendums and public initiatives on public policy and finds that direct democracy better...

The Value of Access: How Closeness to the Obama White House Benefited Companies

Between January 2009 and December 2015, White House officials met with corporate CEOs 2,286 times. A new study, to be presented at the upcoming Stigler Center...

How the Global Audit Firms, Led by Deloitte, Are Using Their Lobbying Clout to Dilute Sarbanes-Oxley Reforms

A look at the Big Four’s congressional lobbying activity shows the auditors and their trade association taking advantage of the “Trump” window to roll...

The Powerful Private Regulator and the Effects of Conflicts of Interest

A new study reveals both the potential biases in the proxy advisory industry and how a new entrant can help mitigate conflicts of interest. The...

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