The Future of Financial Regulation

This is an edited transcript of the proceedings of the Yale Law School Center for the Study of Corporate Law's Weil, Gotshal & Manges Roundtable on the Future of Financial Regulation, which was held on February 13, 2009. The roundtable was jointly sponsored with the Yale Journal on Regulation, and brought together academics from finance, economics and law to discuss causes and solutions for the ongoing financial crisis. The roundtable consisted of four panel sessions. The first session examined "Crisis Origins and Historical Comparisons." Panelists were Charles Calomiris, Henry Kaufman Professor of Financial Institutions, Columbia University Graduate School of Business; John Geanakoplos, James Tobin Professor of Economics, Yale University; Anil Kashyap, Edward Eagle Brown Professor of Economics and Finance, University of Chicago Booth School of Business; Andrew Metrick, Theodore Nierenberg Professor of Corporate Governance and Professor of Finance, Yale School of Management; and Frank Partnoy, George E. Barrett Professor of Law and Finance, University of San Diego School of Law. Roberta Romano, Oscar M. Ruebhausen Professor of Law and Center Director, moderated. The second session analyzed "Causes of the Crisis: Conflicts, Compensation and Reputation." Panelists were Sanjai Bhagat, Professor of Finance, University of Colorado at Boulder Leeds School of Business; Edward J. Kane, James F. Cleary Professor of Finance, Boston College; Jonathan R. Macey, Deputy Dean and Sam Harris Professor of Corporate Law, Corporate Finance and Securities Law, Yale Law School; and Steven L. Schwarcz, Stanley A. Star Professor of Law & Business, Duke University School of Law. The panel was moderated by Richard Brooks, Professor of Law, Yale Law School. The third session considered "Reforming Financial Institution Regulation." Panelists were Lucian A. Bebchuk, William J. Friedman and Alicia Townsend Friedman Professor of Law, Economics and Finance, Harvard Law School; John C. Coates, John F. Cogan Jr. Professor of Law and Economics, Harvard Law School; Richard J. Herring, Jacob Safra Professor of International Banking, Professor of Finance and Co-Director, Wharton Financial Institutions Center, University of Pennsylvania Wharton School; and Geoffrey P. Miller, Stuyvesant P. Comfort Professor of Law and Director, Center for the Study of Central Banks and Financial Institutions, New York University Law School. Melanie L. Fein, Esq., moderated. The fourth session focused on "Reforming Subprime Mortgages." Panelists were William N. Goetzmann, Edwin J. Beinecke Professor of Finance and Management Studies and Director of the International Center for Finance, Yale School of Management; Susan P. Koniak, Professor of Law, Boston University School of Law; Christopher Mayer, Senior Vice Dean and Paul Milstein Professor of Real Estate, Columbia University Graduate School of Business; and Susan M. Wachter, Richard B. Worley Professor of Financial Management and Professor of Real Estate, Finance and City and Regional Planning, University of Pennsylvania Wharton School. The moderator was Ian Ayres, William K. Townsend Professor of Law, Yale Law School. Note: John Morley and Roberta Romano are editors, not authors, of this paper.