Commentary

Comments on Regulating Wall Street: CHOICE Act vs. Dodd-Frank
 
"At a time of rapid change in Washington and partisan reaction to Obama-era legislation, a dispassionate review of financial regulation is sorely needed.  This volume considers both the Dodd-Frank Act and a proposed replacement, the CHOICE Act, in light of financial theory and the lessons of the financial crisis of 2008-09.  The breadth and clarity of the analysis are just what the moment requires.”
 
John Y. Campbell, Morton L. and Carole S. Olshan Professor of Economics, Harvard University
 
 
"This book gives a thoughtful discussion of what is right and what is wrong with the Dodd-Frank Act and with a proposal from the House Financial Services Committee, the CHOICE Act.  We have heard a great deal about over and under regulation and here is a dispassionate discussion by experts at NYU."

Robert F. Engle, Michael Armellino Professor of Finance, NYU Stern School of Business, and recipient of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Economics.


“It is rare to see top academics address a topic in as timely a manner as “Regulating Wall Street” does with the debate that we are going through about whether and how to revise the Dodd-Frank Act. Moreover, the timeliness does not come at the expense of rigor or comprehensiveness. Overall, a must read for anyone who wants to follow the debate or contribute to it—warning about the dangers of returning to an era with major gaps in regulations while containing sensible ideas on how to build on the progress we have made."
 

Jason Furman is a Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. He was the Chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers from 2013-17.
 

"It’s unusual for academic economists to work together as a team.  More unusual still for a team of economists to work with a team of legal scholars, but that’s what members of the faculty at NYU have done again.  More than a dozen members of the faculties of the NYU Stern School of Business and the NYU School of Law have produced an incisive, policy relevant volume with remarkable speed to inform the current policy debate over financial regulatory reform. Building on their prior assessment of the Dodd-Frank Act, the authors make a careful, point by point comparison of the Act with the Financial CHOICE Act proposed by the House Financial Services Committee.  They highlight the strengths and weaknesses of each and note the important issues on the reform agenda that neither addresses.  This is a valuable resource for those who want to understand the financial reform debate and should be required reading for Congressional policy-makers who will be designing the reforms.”

—Richard J. Herring, Jacob Safra Professor of International Banking, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania


"This is an impressive compilation of essays looking at one of the most important large financial issues of our generation, and the strengths and weaknesses in addressing it of the enacted Dodd-Frank Act, a proposed ‘replacement' in the CHOICE Act, and other regulatory proposals (such as the need, and place, for revisions in the Bankruptcy Code).  It is wonderfully timely, and warrants serious consideration across the academic and political spectrum."

—Thomas H. Jackson, Distinguished University Professor and former President, University of Rochester


 “This book is an important contribution to the upcoming discussion in Washington on the reform of financial institutions and markets. It should be prerequisite reading for our Senators and Congressmen.”

Henry Kaufman, President of Henry Kaufman & Company, Inc., and former Vice Chairman of Salomon Inc. 


"Anyone who wants to contribute to or understand the debate about changes to financial regulation would be well advised to read this NYU Stern book.  It is a model of clarity and sensible ideas.”

—Mervyn King KG, GBE, FBA, Alan Greenspan Professor of Economics, Professor of Economics and Law, NYU Stern School of Business and NYU School of Law, and former Governor, Bank of England


"This new book by leading academics at one of our top universities is a must-read for anyone trying to understand the ins and outs of the financial regulatory reform proposals coming out of the new Congress.”
 
Narayana Kocherlakota, Lionel W. McKenzie Professor of Economics, University of Rochester, and former President, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis
 
 
“The book’s emphasis on the authorities needed to contain systemic risk—for example, keeping the system more resilient to adverse shocks by well-placed capital beforehand and by orderly liquidation of systemically important institutions once shocks have hit—will provide an exceptionally useful guide to considering any changes to Dodd-Frank.”
 
Donald Kohn, Robert S. Kerr Senior Fellow at The Brookings Institution and former Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
 
 
"In our new world of contested facts, it is welcome to have a thoroughly researched and well documented analysis of the Dodd-Frank Act and the leading proposal to partially repeal it, the CHOICE Act. The authors, a collection of some of the best academic authorities on finance in the country, provide a dispassionate comparison of the pros and cons of each legislative package. For all those interested in avoiding financial crises in the future, this is the book to read."
 
Robert Litan, Adjunct Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations
 

“This is another extremely timely contribution on financial regulation from the NYU Stern team.  The book provides a detailed and balanced analysis of recent legislative and regulatory reforms, highlighting both areas of progress that should be defended as well as places where the new rules can be usefully rolled back or adapted.” 
 
Jeremy C. Stein, Moise Y. Safra Professor of Economics at Harvard University and former member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System