TY  - JOUR
AU  - Komai,Alejandro
AU  - Richardson,Gary
TI  - A Brief History of Regulations Regarding Financial Markets in the United States: 1789 to 2009
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 17443
PY  - 2011
Y2  - September 2011
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w17443
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w17443.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Alejandro Komai
8283 Bunche Hall
Mail Stop 147703
Los Angeles, CA 90095
E-Mail: atkomai@ucla.edu

Gary Richardson
Department of Economics
University of California, Irvine
3155 Social Sciences Plaza
Irvine, CA 92697-5100
Tel: 949/824-3189
Fax: 949/824-2182
E-Mail: garyr@uci.edu
AB  - In the United States today, the system of financial regulation is complex and fragmented. Responsibility to regulate the financial services industry is split between about a dozen federal agencies, hundreds of state agencies, and numerous industry-sponsored self-governing associations. Regulatory jurisdictions often overlap, so that most financial firms report to multiple regulators; but gaps exist in the supervisory structure, so that some firms report to few, and at times, no regulator. The overlapping jumble of standards; laws; and federal, state, and private jurisdictions can confuse even the most sophisticated student of the system. This article explains how that confusion arose. The story begins with the Constitutional Convention and the foundation of our nation. Our founding fathers fragmented authority over financial markets between federal and state governments. That legacy survives today, complicating efforts to create a financial system that can function effectively during the twenty-first century.
ER  -