Corporate accounting scandals - indeed, the economic history of the last decade - demonstrate that global financial markets need politically independent regulatory agencies. The succession of financial crises that stained the 1990s had many and varied causes, but dysfunctional regulatory arrangements usually aggravated the effects. Each crisis exposed weak and ineffective legal frameworks (often deliberately maintained by politicians), inadequate and dispersed supervision, and forbearance policies that only an industry lobbyist could love.
Corporate accounting scandals - indeed, the economic history of the last decade - demonstrate that global financial markets need politically independent regulatory agencies. The succession of financial crises that stained the 1990s had many and varied causes, but dysfunctional regulatory arrangements usually aggravated the effects. Each crisis exposed weak and ineffective legal frameworks (often deliberately maintained by politicians), inadequate and dispersed supervision, and forbearance policies that only an industry lobbyist could love.