IMF report on "Revolving Door" of Wall Street, Capitol Hill and K Street

CONCLUSION

Regulatory failure has been the subject of intense debate in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. In this paper, we take a closer look into the financial regulation proposals prior to the crisis and analyze how political influence was linked to the congressional actions on these proposals.

We use a detailed dataset that summarizes the politically targeted activities of the financial industry from 1999 to 2006, which includes the bills targeted, lobbyists hired, lobbying expenditures and campaign contributions, and measures of network connections of lobbyists and financial firms with legislators. We document that the probability of a bill advocating regulations less favorable to the financial industry being passed was lower than that of a bill promoting deregulation.

We provide robust evidence that lobbying expenditures by the affected firms and network connections between lobbyists and legislators were directly associated with whether the legislators switched their stance in favor of these bills. Additionally, hiring connected lobbyists significantly enhances the effectiveness of lobbying activities.

These results give support to the notion that political influence of the financial industry may have played a role in shaping the regulatory landscape in the run-up to the crisis and that financial reform proposals should not be considered in isolation from these political economy factors.

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Sen. Rand Paul today took to the Senate floor to introduce an amendment to the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act. The amendment would bring an end to the revolving door between federal employees and companies lobbying for federal funding or loans. This corrupt relationship has led to billions in wasted taxpayer dollars—money awarded on highly debatable grounds to companies who were better politically connected than they were capable of actually repaying a government loan.

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Cromfel said:

I found this article based on small local paper being "enlighted" by how things work there in the states...

IMF report on "Revolving Door" of Wall Street, Capitol Hill and K Street.


So Ron Paul recently introduced "STOCK" bill on making some changes on this absurd chain of banker-politician-bankers.



I recall there being some glash of sWords on this between Ginrich and Paul? Have any other candidate actually tried to do somthing?

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