Ever since the bailout of Continental Illinois Bank in 1984, bank bailouts have been an unpopular device invoked to protect the financial system from risks posed by troubled banks deemed “too big to fail.” Although the Dodd-Frank Act prohibits taxpayer-funded bailouts, it leaves the financial system exposed to meltdowns and promotes the shifting of risk from large “systemically important” financial firms to smaller, less-regulated ones.

Roy C. Smith is the Kenneth Langone Professor of Finance Emeritus at New York University Stern School of Business.
Banking and FinanceBanking Law and RegulationBusiness and EntrepreneurshipCorporate WelfareEconomyEntitlements and WelfareLaw and LibertyPublic ChoiceTaxes and Budget
Other Independent Review articles by Roy C. Smith
Winter 2019/20 Will Populism Kill Globalization?
Summer 2018 China’s Next Ten Years
Fall 2016 Is China the Next Japan?
[View All (8)]