Debates em torno da crise financeira

1. Já argumentei aqui no Canhoto que a opacidade de alguns dos novos produtos financeiros ameaça os mercados de morte. O argumento pode ser desenvolvido com base no debate sobre o problema da “informação assimétrica”. Na Prospect, o tema é tratado por Jonathan Ford que comenta os contributos de Paul Woolley:

Paul Woolley, a former academic, policymaker, IMF economist and fund manager, argues that efficient market theory falls down because of the “asymmetric information” problem. This, simply put, is the difference in the quality of information enjoyed by agents—the banks, fund managers, brokers and so forth — and the principals, or end investors. The agents know more than the principals, and they exploit this to maximise their own wealth — setting aside the risk and reward objectives of the client. While this worry isn't new, critics have in the past focused on banking and corporate finance and on abuses such as insider trading. Woolley's new emphasis, which he has investigated through academic institutes he has established at the London School of Economics and Toulouse university, has been to apply it to investment management. He argues that asymmetric information, especially in this area, has far graver consequences for the functioning of finance.


2. Passando da explicação da crise para a avaliação das medidas contra esta, Robert Reich contesta, no seu blogue, a prioridade escolhida pelo Governo norte-americano quando decidiu apoiar as grandes empresas do sector financeiro. A legislação sobre falências, argumenta Reich, seria suficiente para viabilizar a recuperação daquelas empresas, sempre que a sua sobrevivência fosse mais útil do que a bancarrota. Apoiar aquelas empresas poderia fazer faltar recursos onde eles seriam mais necessários:

Remember: The underlying goal is to help Americans through this crisis and come out of it with a stronger economy. And what a tragedy it would be if the government spends so much on these bailouts there isn't enough money left for the next administration to help average people get affordable health insurance, send their kids to good schools, and find good jobs -- including jobs rebuilding the nation's crumbling infrastructure and finding alternative sources of energy. It's not the big guys who need rescuing. It's the small. Right now, the government has its priorities upside down.