Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Pro-Bank Report Discredited

Andrew Ross Sorkin wrote in a New York Times blog, Vanishing Act: 'Advisers' Seek Distance From a Report. It seems Keybridge Research, "a seemingly independent economics and public policy consulting firm" has released a study that comes out against implementing regulatory reforms of the Dodd-Frank bill.

Here's the fun quote at the end of the article: "When I told Mr. Wescott of Keybridge about Mr. Stiglitz’s comments, he replied that “the client had asked us” to put the report together. “It was a hypothetical study.”" Wescott is the President of Keybridge, the client is apparently the Derivative End Users Coalition, and Mr. Stiglitz is Nobel Laureate Joseph E. Stiglitz who was listed as an advisor to the firm but had not worked with them since May 2009 and had not heard of the study before it was published and now calls it "not a very good report".

I also liked reading that the Oscar nominated documentary The Inside Job is having a real effect. "The movie, which focuses on the financial crisis, raises questions about economists and their consulting arrangements with big business. Shortly after the film’s release, the American Economic Association voted to establish a special committee to create a professional code of conduct."

So yay! It seems in this case, industry lobbyists have been discredited fast enough.

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