It is reported by the BBC that the UK government is considering restricting banks’ ability to pay bonuses to employees who take “reckless” risks.  This assumes that:

Banks would otherwise want their employees to take reckless risks.
There are good ways to determine ex-ante which risks are reckless.

Ignoring the first point, I have severe doubts about the [...]

The place I stayed in Colorado last week was only 20 miles from the real South Park.  Following arrival back in the UK I’m pleased to see that there are episodes of a new series of South Park out.  Episode 3 of Season 13 has their take on the financial crisis.  Extremely subtle and multi-layered, [...]

Given at the RSA on Wednesday April 8th.
There is a view emerging on the left is that the financial crisis is also a crisis of markets in general.  In Britain, it is evidence of the shift from the centre ground we see taking place in the Labour Party.
That view is never emerging on the left. [...]

Good article on this topic in the New York Times by Andrew Rosenfeld.
There is a simpler, sounder and fairer way to recapitalize an insolvent bank. The government should seize it, as it is already authorized — indeed, compelled — to do. Then it could inject cash (in the form of Treasury notes) as equity in [...]