Two years ago, it seemed that the world had changed utterly. After the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, and the week of wild trading that followed, this column was headlined “Increased regulation of financial markets”. That was meant as a prediction as I looked for certainties amid the chaos.
How does that prediction, or any of the other apparent certainties at the time of the crisis look now?
Certainly there is more regulation of financial markets than there was then. Regulators and politicians have tried to do some of the things that might have averted the last crisis. But it is not clear they have done any of the things needed to avert the next one.