Regulation and Governance: A Secular Perspective on the Development of the American Financial System

Eugene N. White

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

Abstract

After 1945, the regulation of international financial markets became more intense and widespread as part of the system designed to avoid the chaos that had characterized international economic relations in the 1930s. This chapter examines how the postwar consensus about the usefulness of regulating capital flows evolved after the advent of current-account convertibility in 1959. It develops the history of prudential regulation and supervision of international banking that began after the end of the Bretton Woods system. A second theme of the chapter is the enduring conflict between the desire to have national sovereignty over financial markets on the one hand, and the need for supranational oversight to ensure consistency and enforcement of prudential supervision and regulation in an increasingly global market. The prudential regulation introduced in the 1970s proved inadequate to cope with these pressures, particularly on the assessment of country risk, and the transparency of syndicated lending.

Original languageAmerican English
Title of host publicationState and Financial Systems in Europe and the USA
Subtitle of host publicationHistorical Perspectives on Regulation and Supervision in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
PublisherTaylor and Francis
Pages55-78
Number of pages24
ISBN (Electronic)9781317050537
ISBN (Print)9780754665946
DOIs
StatePublished - 2016

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Arts and Humanities

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