Discussion | A New (dis)Order: Questioning the Self-Regulating Market

The faith of politicians, academics, and regulators in the efficacy of self-regulating markets fostered the deregulation that was a central factor leading to the crisis. In this event, panelists will scrutinize the commonplace notion that the "natural" and most efficient state of a market is to be free of regulation. If markets are in fact jointly produced by states, market actors, and institutional milieus, do existing social scientific theories effectively capture this process? What are the politics of market design in certain key markets, such as the credit default swap market? How does a shift in framing from "more or less" regulation to "better or worse" construction alter the way we understand the causes of the economic downturn? In light of alternative understandings of markets, e.g. behavioral economics and economic sociology, what factors are essential for the creation of stable markets?

Theo Lubke is a Senior Vice-President in the Bank Supervision Group at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York where he heads the Financial Infrastructure Department and oversees the New York Fed's efforts to improve the resiliency of the OTC derivatives infrastructure. Prior to that, he managed the supervisory relationships with large, complex foreign banking organizations. Before joining the New York Fed in 1995, Lubke worked on the staff of the National Economic Council at the White House. Previously, he had worked as an investment banking analyst at Lehman Brothers.

Perry Mehrling is Professor of Economics at Barnard College. His research interests include the economics of money and banking, monetary theory and policy, and the history and foundations of monetary economics. His book, Fischer Black and the Revolutionary Idea of Finance was named the Best Book of 2007, by the European Society for the History of Economic Thought and his forthcoming book, The New Lombard Street, deals with the financial crisis.

Gillian Tett is an assistant editor of the Financial Times and oversees the global coverage of the financial markets. In March 2009 she was named Journalist of the Year at the British Press Awards. In June 2009 her book Fool's Gold won Financial Book of the Year at the inaugural Spear's Book Awards.

Joseph E. Stiglitz is a University Professor of Economics and Chair of the Committee on Global Thought at Columbia University and a Nobel Prize recipient. His book Globalization and Its Discontents has sold more than one million copies worldwide. His most recent book, The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict), with Linda Bilmes of Harvard University, was published in 2008.