Financial Regulation and Commercial Protection: Should Policy Change?

Abstract

When protection is discussed people normally have policies designed to restrict imports in mind. But the way in which the international economy has been affected by toxic financial assets issued in the United States suggests that countries might face problems not only because of the goods and services trade but also because of the financial assets they import. Thus, in discussing the case for protection, we consider first whether there is a case for protection to prevent economies importing some types of financial instrument and, secondly, whether there is a case for more traditional protection as a way of resolving the global imbalances of the world economy. We conclude that financial protection is a sensible way for countries to protect themselves from risky assets if the production and testing of such assets is not regulated internationally.

Off-balance sheet exposures and banking crises in OECD countries

“…Requiring mandatory holdings or recourse on securitized assets may also be beneficial. Taxation or clearing houses to ensure registration of OTC derivatives might also be considered (see Barrell and Weale (2010), Singh (2010)). Of course other problems may emerge and financial innovations may get round new regulations, as Goodhart (2008) discusses.…”