Here’s something to consider as Wall Street gets set to report record profits — a Sunday New York Times piece on the machinations of the derivatives market. As it turns out, the new banking regulations tend to restrict entry and favor incumbent firms.
“When you limit participation in the governance of an entity to a few like-minded institutions or individuals who have an interest in keeping competitors out, you have the potential for bad things to happen. It’s antitrust 101,” said Robert E. Litan, who helped oversee the Justice Department’s Nasdaq investigation as deputy assistant attorney general and is now a fellow at the Kauffman Foundation. “The history of derivatives trading is it has grown up as a very concentrated industry, and old habits are hard to break.”
Sometimes known as “capture,” of course. When I learned this back in the day, my professor emphasized that capture does not mean that firms necessarily want regulation, but given that there are regulations, firms will bend them to their own advantage — especially politically connected ones.
And shouldn’t be all that surprising, even to the most optimistic of you.
Well worth reading.
UPDATE: For rather convincing rejoinders, see here and here.