Articles
Articles and analyses from the INET community on the key economic questions of our time.
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Rewarding Bad Behavior: The Bear Stearns Bailout
Ten years ago when Bear Stearns crashed, the Fed decided to bail out first, ask questions later. It was a mistake that set a bad precedent.
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Even in France, Money Rules Politics
France, like many Western European countries, has strong campaign finance laws and a vibrant multiparty system. Yet even there, money has had a corrosive effect on democracy, as private donations have an outsized impact on electoral outcomes.
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Financial Markets Have Taken Over the Economy. To Prevent Another Crisis, They Must Be Brought to Heel.
Banks have long had undue influence in society. But with the rapid expansion of a financial sector that transforms all debts and assets into tradable commodities, we are faced with something far worse: financial markets with an only abstract, inflated, and destabilizing relationship with the real economy. To prevent another crisis, finance must be domesticated and turned into a useful servant of society.