Wall Street Journal (July 6)
The scandal over manipulation of the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor) is “more proof of the failing wizardry of the First World’s monetary-cum-banking arrangements.” During the crisis, regulators relied on “questionably legal improvisations” to keep the whole system afloat. A rise in Libor could have set off a panic. “The larger lesson isn’t that bankers are moral scum, badder than the rest of us. The Libor scandal is another testimony (as if more were needed) of just how lacking in rational design most human institutions inevitably are.”
The scandal over manipulation of the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor) is “more proof of the failing wizardry of the First World’s monetary-cum-banking arrangements.” During the crisis, regulators relied on “questionably legal improvisations” to keep the whole system afloat. A rise in Libor could have set off a panic. “The larger lesson isn’t that bankers are moral scum, badder than the rest of us. The Libor scandal is another testimony (as if more were needed) of just how lacking in rational design most human institutions inevitably are.”
Tags: Bankers, Human institutions, Improvisation, LIBOR, Rational design, Regulators, Scandal
