What to do about Too Big To Fail? [event]
By Nancy Cleeland
September 9, 2009

[watch event video below]

A handful of financial institutions that grew enormous through leveraging and the use of complex derivatives were at the heart of the U.S. financial crisis last fall. Because authorities feared the failure of these "Too Big To Fail" institutions would cause global panic, they were propped up with billions of dollars in government cash, loan subsidies and guarantees. There is now a growing consensus among economists that more aggressive steps must be taken to rein in the TBTF institutions, either through a tax to balance the advantages of an implied government guarantee, or through outright limits on size or interconnectedness.

Speakers

John H. Boyd, Kappel Chair in Business and Government, Carlson School, University of Minnesota, and consultant for the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis

Albert A. Foer, President, American Antitrust Institute

Simon Johnson, Professor, MIT Sloan, and Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute

Damon Silvers, Associate Counsel, AFL-CIO; Member, Congressional Oversight Panel for TARP

Moderator

Nancy Cleeland, Director, EPI Bailout Analysis Project

Watch video from this event

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