The current financial and sovereign crisis is pushing European politicians and EU bureaucrats to devise new institutional and policy solutions. However, the new EU institutional framework and stricter regulatory requirements do not introduce significant changes in the laissez-faire nature of the...

The current financial and sovereign crisis is pushing European politicians and EU bureaucrats to devise new institutional and policy solutions. However, the new EU institutional framework and stricter regulatory requirements do not introduce significant changes in the laissez-faire nature of the...

The official regulatory responses to the current crisis do not alter the laissez faire approach to the production and allocation of financial risks which characterises the existing regulatory framework. The stated goal remains that of maintaining the freedom for the private sector to introduce...

The paper addresses two main points: the deficiencies of the past regulatory design and the additional dangers coming from financial reforms that increase the regulatory powers of supervisors. The first point is briefly dealt with reference to past experience and alternative theoretical...