Is financial regulation working, and for whom?

Organised by

• Department of Economics
• Department of History
• Department of Law
• Max Weber Programme for Postdoctoral Studies
• Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies
• Department of Political and Social Sciences
• Florence School of Transnational Governance
• Development and External Relations Service
• Finance and society

The systemic crisis of 2008-09 triggered enormous efforts to re-regulate the banking system at the national and the international level. The re-regulated banking system has withstood severe stress tests since then, above all the Covid-19 pandemic when entire economies were shut down. But this has not prevented gigantic bank failures since then (three of the four biggest bank failures in U.S. history happened in 2023). Regular banks complain about red tape, giving rise to shadow banking, which evades stricter risk regulation. All the while, non-financial businesses complain that credit supply is tight; and taxpayers and households remain highly exposed to market risks. So, for whom is financial regulation working?

This event should appeal to an audience from different research traditions, in public policy, economics, political economy, history and law. Most attendees are quite expert, but also specialised.