Wall Street and Regulation

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

In a book of interest more to specialists than to lay readers, commentaries by seven economists affiliated with the Harvard Business School give an overview of American financial institutions since the New Deal reforms of the 1930s. Many of the regulatory strictures introduced under FDR are now being reversed, and several essays consider the impact of these changes on banking, insurance and the trading of stocks and bonds. Richard Vietor outlines the history of ``regulation-defined'' markets since free banking began in 1837; David Meerschaum traces the evolution from ``relationship banking'' to ``price banking''; Jay O. Light and Andre F. Perold describe the current ``institutionalizing'' of wealth through mutual funds, pension plans and modern money management; and Warren A. Law examines stock-market evils, from 1929 pre-crash pressure-selling and inadequate disclosure to today's insider trading and conflicts of interest. Although the book presents material supporting both regulation and deregulation, editor Hayes's summary argues that unregulated financial markets ``will best serve the nation.'' (July)