Financial Regulation: The Apotheosis of the Administrative State?

Published: Nov. 18, 2017, 2:59 p.m.

b'Concern with “the regulatory state" often focuses on reforms to formal institutional structures and legal doctrines such as Chevron deference. But arguably these formal constraints only touch the tip of the iceberg regarding the issues of individual liberty and the rule of law raised by concerns about the regulatory state, because they fail to appreciate the myriad ways in which regulators exercise informal influence to accomplish ends that they might not be able or willing to achieve through more formal processes. In particular, the deep entanglement between the government and the banking system involves regulatory activity that is outside of the public eye. Commentators and practitioners who raise such concerns point to unwilling banks that felt pressured to take TARP money, implementation of Operation Choke Point, and some enforcement theories applied in the name of lending discrimination. Commentators on the other side of the argument point out the extent to which financial services affect not only individual lives but the welfare of the community and the nation, including the danger of financial crises. What does the experience of the financial services industry and its regulation tell us about concerns and challenges going forward?

Prof. Richard A. Epstein, Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law and Director, Classical Liberal Institute, New York University School of Law
Prof. Hal S. Scott, Nomura Professor of International Financial Systems and Director, Program on International Financial Systems, Harvard Law School
Mr. Peter J. Wallison, Senior Fellow, Arthur F. Burns Fellow in Financial Policy Studies, American Enterprise Institute
Prof. Arthur E. Wilmarth, Jr., Professor of Law, The George Washington University Law School
Moderator: Hon. Carlos T. Bea, United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit'