Politics Research Seminar: Dr Colin Provost
- When?
- Wednesday 2 November 2011, 13:30 to 15:00
- Where?
- 49AC05
- Open to:
- Staff, Students
- Speaker:
- Dr Colin Provost
Racing to the Bottom? Competition and Coordination in Bank Regulation and the Financial Crisis of 2007-09
Studies of regulatory races to the bottom (RTBs) have primarily focused on environmental regulation, while financial regulation has received considerably less scholarly attention. The institutional structure of American bank regulation, in which some regulators are funded by assessments collected from the banks they regulate, has caused many observers to criticize the system as one in which conflicts of interest are created, as regulators compete with each other to attract banks.
However, a closer examination of political institutions, particularly the agencies themselves, is required to determine whether the incentives are to compete or coordinate, and whether this in turn leads to a decline in regulatory standards and enforcement. I argue that the nature of delegated authority, as well as the structure of the banking market, has given some bank regulators the incentives to compete to attract banks.
The evidence-a qualitative analysis of events leading up to the Financial Crisis, as well as trends in loans composition, loan performance and enforcement data-provides support for this argument.
Dr. Provost is Lecturer in Public Policy at UCL, and an expert in organizational behaviour and government regulation (financial and environmental) as well as and American politics