The world-wide meltdown of financial markets is one of the largest human-made crises in modern times. The question that trembles on the lips of many researcher is why the main actors, all considered as rational, have displayed such self-destructing behaviour. Answers have been sought and partially found in theories as varied as ‘regulatory capture’, ‘failed regulation’, and inadequate crisis management. In this special issue, an alternative view is suggested. The financial sector, like any other complex sector, is made up of loosely coupled actors and actor settings (i.e. financial institutions, regulatory bodies, political actors), each driven by different action logics. The studies in this special issue each deeply examine the action logic of one actor group. The purpose of this issue is hence to parcel out the various action logics and suggest directions for further research to combine better the various actors and their differing action logics. |
Beleid en Maatschappij
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Redactioneel |
Van de redactie |
Auteurs | Ewald Engelen |
Auteursinformatie |
Artikel |
Handelingsperspectieven in het politiek-financieel complex |
Trefwoorden | financial crisis, action logics, decision-making theories, regulatory bodies, financial institutions |
Auteurs | Dr. Kutsal Yesilkagit |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
Artikel |
Morele verantwoordelijkheid te midden van meervoudigheidDe toegevoegde waarde van het kritische individu in complexe omgevingen met meervoudige belangen |
Trefwoorden | financial markets, financial regulation, lobbying, financial crisis, policy paradigms |
Auteurs | Dr. Liesbeth Noordegraaf-Eelens en Lotte van Vliet MA |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
The lessons learned from the financial crisis are not necessarily limited to the financial sector. Both the financial sector and the public sector have to deal with perverse effects. The effects can be related to a reduction of complexity and plurality through introducing (oversimplified and one dimensional) models and financial incentives. However, in doing this, complexity and plurality are often lost: the neglect of multiple interests, goal replacement and too much focus on short term results. As a consequence perverse effects arise. |
Artikel |
Ontbrekende alternatieven en gevestigde belangenEen studie naar de posities van overheden in hervormingsdebatten tijdens de financiële crisis |
Auteurs | Daniel Mügge PhD en Bart Stellinga MA MSc |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
The credit crisis that began in the summer of 2007 has fundamentally challenged much financial regulation and the political institutions that produced it. Measured against the criticisms that have been brought forth against previous financial governance, the extent of governments’ overall reform ambitions has been disappointing. Starting from this observation, this article asks: what explains governments’ reform choices, and thus also their limited ambitions? To explore this question, this article focuses on the positions that four governments central to global financial regulation (the USA, the UK, Germany and France) have taken in advance of the G20 meetings in 2009 across four key issue areas: accounting standards, derivatives trading, credit ratings agencies and banking rules. It evaluates both the overlap between positions across domains and governments as well as the differences between them. Such variation, we argue, provides key clues to the overall drivers behind reforms – as well as their limits. The overall picture that emerges can be summarized as follows: governments have been staunch defenders of their national firms’ competitive interests in regulatory reforms. That has not necessarily meant that they followed industry preferences across the board. It has been the relative impact, compared to foreign competitors, that counted in reform positions, not the absolute impact. These differences of opinion have played out within the context and the limits of the overall debates about thinkable policy alternatives. In spite of fundamental criticisms of pre-crisis regulatory orthodoxy, convincing and coherent alternatives have been forthcoming slowly at best. This has made reform proposals less radical than criticisms, seen on their own, might suggest. |
Artikel |
Laveren tussen belanghebbendenReële autonomie en financieel toezicht |
Trefwoorden | regulatory governance, de facto autonomy, financial supervision, bureaucracy, institutional reform |
Auteurs | Dr. Caelesta Braun |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
De facto autonomy, the actual potential of regulatory agencies to go about their daily work, is often conceived to be more important to explain regulatory capacity than its formal autonomy and responsibilities. In this article we investigate whether external context factors, such as the financial and economic crisis have an impact on de facto autonomy. More specifically, we investigate whether the de facto autonomy varies after the crisis and distinctively so for specific subsets of employees within regulatory agencies. According to literature, mid-level managers of agencies are key to de facto autonomy and building a secure reputation for the agency in question. We test these external and internal effects on de facto autonomy with a survey among employees of the Dutch Financial Market Authority (N = 248). The findings show that the perceived influence of stakeholders is relatively constant, but that it is more dynamic for European stakeholders. Both middle managers and employees working at strategic and policy departments of the agency conceive the impact of European stakeholders as increasing in nature. The findings have important implications for our studies of de facto autonomy of regulatory agencies as well as reform potential after major institutional crises. |
Discussie |
Inkomensongelijkheid: een klassiek ideaal opnieuw op de agenda |
Auteurs | Monique Kremer |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
Reflection and Debate initiates academically inspired discussions on issues that are on the current policy agenda. |
Discussie |
De toenemende inkomensongelijkheid in Nederland |
Auteurs | Nico Wilterdink |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
Reflection and Debate initiates academically inspired discussions on issues that are on the current policy agenda. |
Discussie |
Gelijkheid anno 2012: niet langer alleen voor softies |
Auteurs | Pieter Pekelharing |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
Reflection and Debate initiates academically inspired discussions on issues that are on the current policy agenda. |
Boekbespreking |
Markten zijn overal |
Auteurs | Dr. Rutger Claassen |
Auteursinformatie |
Boekbespreking |
Transparantie doorgelicht. Of: de logica van vaagheid |
Auteurs | Jurre van den Berg MSc |
Auteursinformatie |
Column |
De hoogste tijd om banken aan te pakken |
Auteurs | Dr. Rodrigo Fernandez |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
In a column a journal editor or an author expresses his or her opinion on a particular subject. |