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The cries against the big banks -- traditionally the big Eastern banks -- have a long history in the uniquely decentralized U.S. banking system. Perhaps their most fertile homeland is -- Texas, home of the Dallas Fed. Continue reading
Economists have proved, over many years and many crises, to be lousy (meaning just as fallible as everyone else) forecasting either markets or macroeconomies. Continue reading
Ah, but it's the silly season. Presidents generally can't win when the political pundits go looking for an economic angle. If the economy is good, it's the cycle. If it's bad, it's their fault. Continue reading
According to a speech titled 'The Race to Zero' by Andrew Haldane, the technology race that is high-frequency trading has actually gone beyond the point where nothing but the most powerful technology matters. Continue reading
Anything is possible, but after four wearying decades of the cancer wars, one remains skeptical of transformational progress. Evolution, after all, may be very slow. Continue reading
The combination of truth-telling and apology over a 'This American Life' 's piece on Mike Daisey's 'The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs' has struck a nerve. Continue reading
Greg Smith's Warholian week is (happily) ending. He will become obscure, a footnote, a raised eyebrow at a cocktail party. Oh, that Greg Smith. Continue reading
Greg Smith offers a valedictory kiss-off and missile strike at Goldman Sachs on the op-ed page of The New York Times. Continue reading
A recent paper, John Coffee is taking a mighty cut that aims not only at the dynamics of financial reform in a democracy like ours, but, inevitably, at the root causes of the financial crisis. I'm not sure he has succeeded. Continue reading
What we know about data is that it spawns the demand for more data. Where's the line between data poor and data rich? Continue reading
A few weeks ago, The Economist, that idiosyncratically British "newspaper" with vague ties to the free-trade liberalism of its 19th-century editor, Walter "Lombard Street" Bagehot, confronted America with a shocking charge: We're overregulated. This sent GOP hearts a-beating, at least... Continue reading
The encomiums are rolling in for Delaware Chancellor Leo Strine on his El Paso decision, a verbal thrashing of any number of parties in the transaction, notably Goldman Sachs. Continue reading
Two papers by New York University economist Thomas Philippon cast a weak, but necessary light on one of the central issues of the age: Is finance too big or too dysfunctional? Continue reading
