Regulating Finance and Economies — Profit and Beyond

Abstract

In the aftermath of the recent global financial meltdown (2009), the vigorous free-market attack on international financial regulation has been dulled but not silenced. Braithwaite’s window of opportunity for regulation out of crisis¹ is particularly apposite to this chapter.² Following on from the devastating political and social impacts of the global financial crisis, it is necessary to ask — to what extent has economic re-regulation taken root in the thinking about crisis responses? Or is the discussion of regulation a smokescreen for the failure of the contemporary market model at the heart of global political economy? Even if this concession proves correct, with so many economists dodging responsibility for crisis prediction, to what extent has the financial crisis opened up discussion of the re-emergence of socially responsible economics despite the death of welfarism? Ultimately the discussion to follow explores the real nature and purpose of collaborative regulation in the global financial industry and questions the extent to which it mimics or masks the potential of regulatory sociability.