Above politics: Bureaucratic discretion and credible commitment
| Author | Victor Lapuente |
| Published date | 01 June 2017 |
| Date | 01 June 2017 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/padm.12317 |
Above politics: Bureaucratic discretion and
credible commitment
Gary J. Miller|Andrew B. Whitford
Cambridge University Press, 2016, 274 pp., £16.97 (pb), ISBN : 9781107401310
The financial crisis and the Great Recession could have happened earlier. Most of the pieces were already in place
in the 1980s. Already then, many market actors were eager to make huge profits by betting on risky investments
and backstopping their potential losses with taxpayer-subsidized deposits. These gamblers were powerful enough
to compel politicians to remove the regulatory hurdle that could frustrate their plans to enrich themselves at the
expense of social well-being.
Yet they failed. For they faced what Gary J. Miller and Andrew B. Whitford refer to as a ‘bunch of bureaucrats
who, once confronted, stuck to their guns and argued that such a regulation was necessary to protect the public
good’. As Miller and Whitford nicely describe, the bureaucrats of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board (FHLBB) put
their professional credibility –‘the only thing we have as regulators is our credibility’, as one famously remarked –
above accountability to their political masters. Above politics.
REVIEWS 549
Get this document and AI-powered insights with a free trial of vLex and Vincent AI
Get Started for FreeUnlock full access with a free 7-day trial
Transform your legal research with vLex
-
Complete access to the largest collection of common law case law on one platform
-
Generate AI case summaries that instantly highlight key legal issues
-
Advanced search capabilities with precise filtering and sorting options
-
Comprehensive legal content with documents across 100+ jurisdictions
-
Trusted by 2 million professionals including top global firms
-
Access AI-Powered Research with Vincent AI: Natural language queries with verified citations
Unlock full access with a free 7-day trial
Transform your legal research with vLex
-
Complete access to the largest collection of common law case law on one platform
-
Generate AI case summaries that instantly highlight key legal issues
-
Advanced search capabilities with precise filtering and sorting options
-
Comprehensive legal content with documents across 100+ jurisdictions
-
Trusted by 2 million professionals including top global firms
-
Access AI-Powered Research with Vincent AI: Natural language queries with verified citations
Unlock full access with a free 7-day trial
Transform your legal research with vLex
-
Complete access to the largest collection of common law case law on one platform
-
Generate AI case summaries that instantly highlight key legal issues
-
Advanced search capabilities with precise filtering and sorting options
-
Comprehensive legal content with documents across 100+ jurisdictions
-
Trusted by 2 million professionals including top global firms
-
Access AI-Powered Research with Vincent AI: Natural language queries with verified citations
Unlock full access with a free 7-day trial
Transform your legal research with vLex
-
Complete access to the largest collection of common law case law on one platform
-
Generate AI case summaries that instantly highlight key legal issues
-
Advanced search capabilities with precise filtering and sorting options
-
Comprehensive legal content with documents across 100+ jurisdictions
-
Trusted by 2 million professionals including top global firms
-
Access AI-Powered Research with Vincent AI: Natural language queries with verified citations
Unlock full access with a free 7-day trial
Transform your legal research with vLex
-
Complete access to the largest collection of common law case law on one platform
-
Generate AI case summaries that instantly highlight key legal issues
-
Advanced search capabilities with precise filtering and sorting options
-
Comprehensive legal content with documents across 100+ jurisdictions
-
Trusted by 2 million professionals including top global firms
-
Access AI-Powered Research with Vincent AI: Natural language queries with verified citations