Financial Crises and Scandals and How to Minimize Them – 6843

Spring 2020

The Great Financial Crisis (GFC) is the most important economic and legal event in most of our students' lives - and most of the things they know about the GFC are myths. The GFC arose from a series of spectacular policy failures that persisted for 15 years (1994-2008). Most of these policy failures became public law, but other failures came from the repeal or refusal to adopt effective public law. Preventing or at least dramatically reducing future GFCs is the Nation's most important economic task.

The course offers an introduction to the economic, criminological, and psychological principles central to banking and banking regulation and integrates them with law. The sources of law we develop include administrative, criminal, civil, bankruptcy, securities, and commercial law. Students will be required to prepare an interdisciplinary policy memorandum recommending a specific policy or group of policies to counter a material contributor to financial crises.