Which reform would have changed behavior before prices fell?

Blaming only one group lets other institutions off too easily. Stricter rules on paper do not guarantee effective supervision or compliance in practic...

A full account must explain why risks accumulated across firms and why losses spread so widely. A poorly designed safety net can create problems as we...

Regulation affected capital, information and organizational choices, but financial institutions also made private strategic decisions. Short-term rewa...

What can quantitative history responsibly add without reducing human beings to entries in a balance sheet?

Numerical precision can create a false sense of completeness when essential harms resist monetization. Different measurement methods illuminate differ...

Counterfactual growth estimates require assumptions and cannot replace testimony or the historical record of coercion. Financial gains and coercion ne...

Even the best economic records cannot price human freedom or suffering. Profit records reflect the accounting perspective of enslavers, traders and in...

Would the crisis have happened without the most famous villain?

A focus only on villains can distract from systems that would have remained fragile with different managers. Fixating on villains can leave a dangerou...

Bad investments and actual fraud belong in different categories. Fraudulent behavior should be distinguished from speculative investments that fail wi...

Leverage, incentives, information and legal structures determine how private decisions can create wider vulnerability. Institutions determine when pri...