Regulatory systemic risk in US securities regulation

Abstract

The concept of regulatory systemic risk – a long-term imbalance, resulting from the misalignment between regulatory initiatives and market realities, that impacts multiple areas of the regulatory framework – is developed in the context of US securities regulation. The discussion offers two theses, one descriptive and the other normative. Descriptively, drawing on institutional approaches to the study of regulation, I show how regulatory systemic risk emerges in the US securities regulatory framework. The issue is examined by looking at section 971, Proxy Access, of the Dodd–Frank Act. Normatively, the discussion highlights the failure of the Dodd-Frank Act to mitigate regulatory systemic risk.