Guardians of Finance: Making Regulators Work for Us

摘要

Financial regulators (the "Guardians of Finance"), through their actions and inactions, greatly increased the fragility of the financial system prior to (what is now known as) the Great Recession of 2008. This book focuses on this specific aspect of the crisis. While not the only cause of the Great Recession, regulatory failure -- namely, deregulatory mania and the unwillingness to enforce existing regulations -- was central. The authors note that this cause is common to all the countries that had a major crisis, from Iceland and Ireland, to the UK, Spain, and the United States. They argue for a more open regulatory framework that has greater checks and balances in order to make sure that regulators work in the interest of the public. Overall, their argument is persuasive and the book is written in a style that is accessible to a non-academic audience conversant with financial issues.