Reforming U. S. Financial Markets : Reflections Before and Beyond Dodd-Frank

Two top economists outline distinctive approaches to post-crisis financial reform.

Over the last few years, the financial sector has experienced its worst crisis since the 1930s. The collapse of major firms, the decline in asset values, the interruption of credit flows, the loss of confidence in firms and credit market instruments, the intervention by governments and central banks: all were extraordinary in scale and scope. In this book, leading economists Randall Kroszner and Robert Shiller discuss what the United States should do to prevent another such financial meltdown. Their discussion goes beyond the nuts and bolts of legislative and regulatory fixes to consider fundamental changes in our financial arrangements.

Kroszner and Shiller offer two distinctive approaches to financial reform, with Kroszner providing a systematic analysis of regulatory gaps and Shiller addressing the broader concerns of democratizing and humanizing finance. After brief discussions by four commentators (Benjamin M. Friedman, George G. Kaufman, Robert C. Pozen, and Hal S. Scott), Kroszner and Shiller each offer a response to the other's proposals, creating a fruitful dialogue between two major figures in the field.

Randall S. Kroszner is Norman R. Bobins Professor of Economics in the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business. He served as a Governor of the Federal Reserve System from March 2006 until January 2009.

Robert J. Shiller is Sterling Professor of Economics at Yale University. He is the author of Finance and the Good Society and other books.

Benjamin M. Friedman is William Joseph Maier Professor of Political Economy at Harvard University and the author of The Moral Consequences of Economic Growth.

George G. Kaufman is John F. Smith, Jr. Professor of Economics and Finance at Loyola University in Chicago and a consultant at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.

Hal S. Scott is Nomura Professor and Director of the Program on International Financial Systems (PIFS) at Harvard Law School. He is Director of the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation, a research organization.