Norbert Michel studies and writes about housing finance, including the reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as The Heritage Foundation’s research fellow in financial regulations. Read his research.
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As the Federal Reserve summer symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyo. begins, I thought I’d set the record straight. The Federal Reserve cannot just set interest rates…. Read More
EconomyCommentary
Why do I write so much about the myth that financial market deregulation caused the financial crisis? Because that false narrative has spread so far… Read More
EconomyCommentary
In two months the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City will hold its annual symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. It is here that, for more than… Read More
EconomyCommentary
If we were to design a regulatory framework from scratch, for any sector of a modern economy, it would make no sense to ignore regulatory… Read More
The U.S. House has introduced—and even passed—several bills during the past few years aimed at reforming financial regulations, but the Senate has lagged far behind…. Read More
EconomyCommentary
There’s still a widespread belief that the federal government will bail out large financial firms if there’s another crisis. Curbing the Federal Reserve’s ability to… Read More
EconomyCommentary
In some cases, federal financial regulators have to consider the incremental impact of new rules and regulations. But they hardly ever are required to examine… Read More
EconomyCommentary
Now, it appears the Obama administration wants to control the advice we can get from retirement planners. The administration announced it is moving ahead with… Read More
EconomyCommentary
Senator Sherrod Brown (D–OH) offered a budget amendment today that he claims will “end ‘too big to fail’ bailouts.” But the change could ultimately give… Read More
EconomyAnalysis
Victor Hugo, author of “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” famously said “All the forces in the world are not so powerful as an idea whose… Read More
EconomyCommentary
The Washington Post’s Robert Samuelson is the latest commentator to paint conservative critics of the Federal Reserve as dangerous and misinformed. Samuelson discounts auditing the… Read More
EconomyCommentary
Last week the Obama administration announced it would move ahead with a new Department of Labor rule designed to provide uniform fiduciary rules for anyone… Read More
EconomyCommentary
The so-called affordable housing movement achieved a victory with the recent move by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to finance two new funds: the… Read More
EconomyAnalysis
People who believe in the power of individual liberty and free enterprise have had a rough time lately. And with so many recent examples of… Read More
EconomyCommentary
The club of U.S. central bankers appears jittery, but it’s not because of interest rates, unemployment, or mortgage-backed securities. It’s because of Congress. The Fed… Read More
EconomyCommentary
A government agency wants to roll back penalties on banks that make errors when providing mortgages backed by government. If a loan is backed by… Read More
EconomyCommentary
In his State of the Union address, President Obama argued we need government policies to build “the most competitive economy anywhere.” He’s wrong. We need… Read More
EconomyCommentary
Life insurance company MetLife has been locked in a battle with the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) for months. Last July, the FSOC, a sort… Read More
Economy Commentary
Yesterday’s release of the minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting in December revealed very little new information on the Fed’s overall monetary policy… Read More
EconomyCommentary
Thanks to one tiny provision stuffed into the CRomnibus spending bill, millions are now familiar with the financial term swap. This provision essentially undoes a… Read More
EconomyCommentary
James Grant’s excellent new book, The Forgotten Depression: 1921: The Crash That Cured Itself, tells the story of “America’s last governmentally untreated depression.” Just prior… Read More
EconomyCommentary
The Federal Reserve should stop trying to stimulate the economy for two reasons. First, the policies it has enacted so far have contributed very little… Read More
EconomyCommentary
New banking rules set to take effect January 1, 2015, are already starting to prove the law of unintended consequences is alive and well. The… Read More
EconomyCommentary
Recently I had the pleasure of testifying at a Senate hearing. The topic was “Improving Financial Institution Supervision: Examining and Addressing Regulatory Capture.” “Regulatory capture” refers… Read More
EconomyCommentary
The Republicans will hold a comfortable majority in the U.S. House and, at most, a 55 seat majority in the Senate for the 114th Congress…. Read More
Economy Commentary
Has the nation’s experiment with the Federal Reserve been a success or a failure? Does the Fed’s full history contain fewer symptoms of instability than… Read More
EconomyCommentary
Federal regulators have finalized a new risk-retention rule, a process mandated by the 2010 Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Title IX of… Read More
EconomyCommentary
Renowned author George Gilder recently told an audience at The Heritage Foundation that conservatives have a fundamental problem in their economic ideology when it comes… Read More
EconomyAnalysis
As the number of retailers accepting Bitcoin has increased, more and more people are asking: What is Bitcoin? Here’s an attempt to unravel the mystery…. Read More
EconomyCommentary
Here we go again. The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has announced a new low-income housing proposal. The FHFA is in charge of Fannie Mae… Read More
