Is the government’s response to the 2008 financial crisis responsible for the rise of populism in the US and Europe?; the real Google censorship scandal is its re-entry into China; Europe’s new controversial copyright law could change the Internet; and can Facebook unbreak democracy?
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What can policymakers do to prevent future financial crises? An emerging consensus holds that so-called macroprudential regulation is key: policies that aim to mitigate risks to the financial system as a whole. In a recent paper, Karsten Müller of Princeton shows that such policies were systematically loosened in the run-up to two-hundred seventeen elections across 58 countries. This raises the question of whether regulators can, in practice, withstand political pressures.
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As Trump ramps up his attacks on Google, Sen. Orrin Hatch asks the FTC to revisit its investigation of the company; as Facebook finally takes action on Myanmar, US campaign strategists reportedly gear up to flood the social network with inflammatory ads; and why are doctors and hospital groups organizing to oppose single-payer health care in California?
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America’s white-collar prosecution crisis; Elizabeth Warren has a new bill that aims to separate money from politics; Facebook struggles with the daunting task of moderating 2 billion people; and is Google risking press freedom by re-entering the Chinese market?
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In a wide-ranging interview with ProMarket, media scholar Siva Vaidhyanathan explains why Facebook has become “too big too manage” and why he believes the only solution to its bigness is a global political movement aimed at breaking it up.
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Apple hits the coveted $1 trillion mark—thanks to share buybacks; Senator Mark Warner’s proposals to regulate social media platforms make waves; Google is reportedly planning to launch a censored version of its search engine in China; and what’s behind the public battle between President Trump and the Koch brothers for control of the GOP?
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Brett Kavanaugh is expected to bring his pro-business bent to the Supreme Court; the DOJ is appealing the AT&T-Time Warner merger approval; Britain fines Facebook and the EU is expected to fine Google; and who really benefits from the GOP’s tax cuts?
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Does owning financial assets lead voters to support Republicans? New research on the liberty bonds of World War I suggests the story may be more complex.
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In an interview with ProMarket, former Bank of England deputy governor Sir Paul Tucker explains why the “unelected power” of central bankers threatens our system of government.
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Scott Pruitt resigns from the EPA; a new report finds that digital platforms are not fully complying with the EU’s new privacy rules; Google, meanwhile, has a new privacy scandal; a month after its acquisition of Time Warner was approved, AT&T is already raising prices for its streaming TV customers; and former Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s new career draws criticism.
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Some 130 years before Friedman could begin arguing that a corporation’s sole responsibility was to make a profit for its shareholders, Boston’s Charles River Bridge Company had to convince the Supreme Court that corporations were private entities whose interests could diverge from the public interest. While it lost that case, the partial success of the Charles River Bridge Company’s reasoning with the court laid the foundations for corporate personhood as it exists today.
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AT&T’s acquisition of Time Warner continues to make waves; a New York federal judge says the entire Consumer of Financial Protection Bureau needs to be eliminated; the Koch Brothers are enlisting sophisticated data tool to fight against public transit; and which private contractors stand to benefit from the administration’s immigration policies?
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