The turbulence in the international financial markets in the 1980s inspired the idea that independent academics might be in a position to make a contribution to the improvement of regulation and thus ultimately also to the stability of the national financial sector in the United States. This led to the creation of the US ``Shadow Financial Regulatory Committee'', a group of academics and other independent experts working in the field of financial regulation, which meets regularly and issues statements concerning conceptual as well as current issues in financial regulation. Two years ago, a similar shadow committee was founded in Europe. It is composed of members from 11 different countries. The special problems of financial regulation in Europe, as well as the special features of the European Shadow Financial Regulatory Committee (ESFRC), derive from the fact that despite the trend towards economic and political integration, Europe is still a collection of different nations with different institutional set-ups and political and economic traditions. In this paper, Harald Benink, chairman of the ESFRC, and Reinhard H. Schmidt, one of the two German members, describe the origin, the objectives and the functioning of the committee and the thrust of its recommendations.

doi.org/10.1111/1468-2516.00020, hdl.handle.net/1765/101080
Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik
Erasmus University Rotterdam

Benink, H., & Schmidt, R. (2000). Das 'European Shadow Financial Regulatory Committee' : ein Beitrag zur Regulierungskultur in Europa. Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, 1(3), 319–335. doi:10.1111/1468-2516.00020