YLS and SOM Professors Discuss Financial Crisis

As the U.S. House of Representatives was preparing to vote on a revised bill to bail out the financial industry, Yale Law School’s Center for the Study of Corporate Law was convening a panel of experts to obtain their opinions on the bailout and consider the causes of the financial crisis.

The panel discussion on October 2, “What's Going on in the Financial Markets?,” included Yale Law School Deputy Dean and Professor Jonathan Macey ’82, and Yale School of Management Professors Gary Gorton, Andrew Metrick, and William Goetzmann. The complexity of the crisis was underscored early in the program when the four professors split down the middle after being asked to vote yea or nay on the bailout bill, the yeas saying something needed to be done immediately to restore confidence and the nays saying the bill didn’t address the real problem.

“How much do you believe that if we don’t do something serious, there’s going to be a super duper meltdown?” asked Professor Metrick, saying the answer to that question would determine your position on the vote.

The panel discussion, which filled nearly every seat in Room 127, was the first of several events on the topic planned by the Center for the Study of Corporate Law, said Center Director and Oscar M. Ruebhausen Professor of Law Roberta Romano ’80. Among other events, the Center will host a breakfast for Yale Law School alumni on December 2 in New York City. The program, titled “Assessing the Financial Market Mess: Is There a Subprime Solution?,” will feature Yale Law School Professors Ian Ayres ’86 and Jonathan Macey, along with Yale Economics Professor Robert Shiller. More information on the Center’s activities can be found on the Center for the Study of Corporate Law website.