Law and Macroeconomics : Legal Remedies to Recessions

After 2008, private-sector spending took a decade to recover. Yair Listokin thinks we can respond more quickly to the next meltdown by reviving and refashioning a policy approach, used in the New Deal, to harness law’s ability to function as a macroeconomic tool, stimulating or relieving demand as required under certain crisis conditions. Law And Macroeconomics Is Among A Small Number Of Books To Explore Law, Regulations, And Macroeconomics. Most Of Law And Economics Is Focused On Microeconomics. In Contrast, Listokin Is Interested In Macroeconomic Policy, And Especially The Question Of What Legal And Regulatory Options Are There To Quickly Respond To A Crisis Like The Great Depression Or The Recent Great Recession. To Make This Manageable, Listokin Focuses On The Role Of Law In Confronting The 2008 Financial Crisis. In The Economist's Toolkit For Confronting A Recession Are Choices Such As Lowering Interest Rates And Quantitative Easing. The Law Offers No Such Toolkit. Listokin Argues That It Should, Especially Given How Modest The Economic Fixes Have Been Since 2008.-- Part I. Macroeconomics Outside Of A Liquidity Trap -- Law And Fiscal Policy When Interest Rates Are Well Above Zero -- Law And Monetary Policy When Interest Rates Are Well Above Zero -- The Painful Costs Of Prolonged Recessions: Evidence And Theory -- Law, Monetary Policy, And Fiscal Policy In A Liquidity Trap -- Institutional Reform Of Fiscal Policy -- Expansionary Fiscal Policy By Administrative Agencies -- Part Ii. The Pros And Cons Of Expansionary Legal Policy: Expansionary Legal Policy: The Case Of The Keystone Pipeline -- The Costs Of Expansionary Legal Policy -- Law And Macroeconomics: Lessons From History -- Expansionary Legal Policy Options -- Conclusion: Five Lessons Of Law And Macroeconomics. Yair Listokin. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. A distinguished Yale economist and legal scholar's argument that law, of all things, has the potential to rescue us from the next economic crisis. After the economic crisis of 2008, private-sector spending took nearly a decade to recover. Yair Listokin thinks we can respond more quickly to the next meltdown by reviving and refashioning a policy approach whose proven success is too rarely acknowledged. Harking back to New Deal regulatory agencies, Listokin proposes that we take seriously law's ability to function as a macroeconomic tool, capable of stimulating demand when needed and relieving demand when it threatens to overheat economies. Listokin makes his case by looking at both positive and cautionary examples, going back to the New Deal and including the Keystone Pipeline, the constitutionally fraught bond-buying program unveiled by the European Central Bank at the nadir of the Eurozone crisis, the ongoing Greek crisis, and the experience of U.S. price controls in the 1970s. History has taught us that law is an unwieldy instrument of macroeconomic policy, but Listokin argues that under certain conditions it offers a vital alternative to the monetary and fiscal policy tools that stretch the legitimacy of technocratic central banks near their breaking point while leaving the rest of us waiting and wallowing. Cover Title Page Copyright Dedication Contents Introduction Part I. Law, Fiscal Policy, and Monetary Policy 1. Macroeconomics outside of a Liquidity Trap 2. Law and Fiscal Policy When Interest Rates Are Well above Zero 3. Law and Monetary Policy When Interest Rates Are Well above Zero 4. The Painful Costs of Prolonged Recessions: Evidence and Theory 5. Law, Monetary Policy, and Fiscal Policy in a Liquidity Trap 6. Institutional Reform of Fiscal Policy 7. Expansionary Fiscal Policy by Administrative Agencies Part II. The Pros and Cons of Expansionary Legal Policy 8. Expansionary Legal Policy: The Case of the Keystone Pipeline 9. The Costs of Expansionary Legal Policy 10. Law and Macroeconomics: Lessons from History 11. Expansionary Legal Policy Options Conclusion: Five Lessons of Law and Macroeconomics Appendix Notes Acknowledgments Index Law and Macroeconomics is among a small number of books to explore law, regulations, and macroeconomics. Most of law and economics is focused on microeconomics. In contrast, Listokin is interested in macroeconomic policy, and especially the question of what legal and regulatory options are there to quickly respond to a crisis like the Great Depression or the recent Great Recession. To make this manageable, Listokin focuses on the role of law in confronting the 2008 financial crisis. In the economist's toolkit for confronting a recession are choices such as lowering interest rates and "quantitative easing." The law offers no such toolkit. Listokin argues that it should, especially given how modest the economic fixes have been since 2008.-- Provided by publisher