Making Sense of the New Financial Deal

Authors

David A. Skeel Jr., University of Pennsylvania Carey Law SchoolFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Spring 4-1-2011

Abstract

In this Essay, I assess the enactment and implications of the Dodd-Frank Act, Congress’s response to the 2008 financial crisis. To set the stage, I begin by very briefly reviewing the causes of the crisis. I then argue that the legislation has two very clear objectives. The first is to limit the risk of the shadow banking system by more carefully regulating the key instruments and institutions of contemporary finance. The second objective is to limit the damage in the event one of these giant institutions fails. While the new regulation of the instruments of contemporary finance—including clearing and exchange trading requirements for derivatives—is promising, its treatment of systemically important financial institutions is likely to create a troublesome partnership between these institutions and the government. I also argue that our financial world is just as prone to bailouts after Dodd-Frank as it was before, and that it would have made a lot more sense to focus on bankruptcy as the solution of choice for troubled financial institutions.

After this initial assessment, I discuss the CEO compensation issues that have gotten so much attention in the press. I conclude by considering the legislation from a distinctively Christian perspective.

Keywords

Banking and finance, Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, derivatives, securities, leverage, risk, too big to fail, bailouts, financial regulation, 2008 credit crisis, law and economics, bankruptcy, executive compensation, Christianity, sacrificial love

Publication Title

Liberty University Law Review

Publication Citation

5 Liberty U. L. Rev. 181 (2011)

Repository Citation

Skeel, David A. Jr., "Making Sense of the New Financial Deal" (2011). All Faculty Scholarship. 365.
https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/faculty_scholarship/365