The Structure and Regulation of Financial Markets

This lucid text brings together and explains the main theoretical developments in economic thinking about financial markets, institutions, and regulations over the last twenty-five years. It relates the theory of asymmetric information to the main financial developments in the US, UK, and other Anglo-Saxon countries. After a preliminary discussion of financial markets and their transparency, it looks at the role of financial intermediaries such as banks. It argues that these institutions can compete with efficient markets because they are confidential. The book goes on to discuss bank credit rationing, bank failure and systemic risk, and the way in which regulation can control these risks.

Peter D. Spencer is Professor of Financial Economics at Birkbeck College, London and Economic Adviser to the Ernst and Young ITEM Forecasting Club. He started his career at HM Treasury and spent ten years working in the City of London, most recently as Chief Economist of Dresdner Kleinwort Benson. He is chairman of the Shadow Monetary Policy Committee and Assured Property Management plc.