How to Fix the Libor

Rosa Abrantes-Metz, David Evans, Jul 01, 2012

One couldn’t ask for better proof that antitrust has an important role to play in financial markets than the recent LIBOR controversy and that is the subject of the inaugural edition of the CPI’s Financial Services column.  Of course, the financial services industry is huge by many measures. It accounts for almost 10 percent of US GDP and globally provides intermediation, in some fashion, for hundreds of trillions of dollars of contracts involving borrowing and lending capital. For antitrust though, the industry has been and continues to be of interest because of the extent of cooperation among competitors.  There are many reasons why such cooperation can increase the efficiency of capital markets though it can also devolve into conspiracy against the public.

We’re looking for contributors to this monthly column and hope to get a vibrant debate going in the comment section and on CPI’s LinkedIn Group about financial services broadly defined. The column is going to focus on anything that’s of interest to the antitrust community surrounding financial services, including ones that address generally policy and regulatory issues rather than bread and butter antitrust topics.  Submissions should be in range of 500-1500 words.

To kick off the column, Rosa Abrantes-Metz and I discuss our proposal for reforming the LIBOR. Click the link below to read the column.

David S. Evans

Links to Full Content

How to Fix the LIBOR