ABSTRACT

Financial regulation can fail when it is needed the most. The dynamics of asset price bubbles weaken financial regulation just as financial markets begin to overheat and the risk of crisis spikes. At the same time, the failure of financial regulations adds further fuel to a bubble.

This book examines the interaction of bubbles and financial regulation. It explores the ways in which bubbles lead to the failure of financial regulation by outlining five dynamics, which it collectively labels the "Regulatory Instability Hypothesis." .

The book concludes by outlining approaches to make financial regulation more resilient to these dynamics that undermine law.

chapter |30 pages

Introduction

The Regulatory Instability Hypothesis

part I|105 pages

The economics and legal history of bubbles

chapter 1|29 pages

The economics of bubbles

chapter 2|74 pages

A legal history of bubbles

part II|199 pages

The Regulatory Instability Hypothesis

part III|58 pages

Fighting bubbles, feeding bubbles

chapter 8|26 pages

Anti-bubble laws

chapter 9|30 pages

Credit and leverage

The monetary dimension of financial regulation

part IV|75 pages

The panic of 2007–2008 as master class in regulatory instability

chapter 10|30 pages

The shadow banking system

A thumbnail sketch

chapter 11|43 pages

“Lawyers, runs, and money”

The rise and collapse of shadow banking

part V|61 pages

Lessons and solutions

chapter 12|59 pages

Conclusion

Adaptive laws and channeling politics: designing robust regulations and institutions