When the Levees Break

The stock markets. Whether you invest or not, the workings of the stock market almost certainly touch your life. Either through your retirement fund, your mutual fund or just because you work for a place that invests (or is invested in)—the reach of the securities markets is expanding, like an ever growing tidal wave. This book discusses what happens when that wave hits the shore. Specifically, this book argues that, given the mounting deluge from misplaced regulation, fast-paced technology, and dominant financial players, the current US regulatory structure is woefully inadequate to hold back the tide.Using vivid imagery and plain language, Karen Kunz and Jena Martin take the problems involved in regulating the complex world of securities head on. Examining everything from the rise of technology and the role of hedge funds to our bloated agency system, Kunz and Martin argue that the current structure is doomed to fail and, when it does, the consequences will be disastrous. Sending out a call to action, the authors also offer a bold vision for how to fix the mess we’ve made—not by tinkering around the edges—but instead by building a whole new structure, one that can withstand the next storm that is sure to come.

In When the Levees Break: Re-Visioning Securities Markets Regulation, Jena Martin and Karen Kunz throw (respectful) shade upon Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis' famous declaration that 'sunlight is the best disinfectant' when it comes to securities regulation in the United States. Martin and Kunz make clear that sunlight (or disclosure) is no longer the best disinfectant when it comes to securities fraud as our securities laws have fallen woefully behind the technological advances that have dramatically changed modern securities trading. This exciting and important new book challenges convention and offers an innovative way forward that re-imagines our staid and ineffective securities laws proposing a radical new regulatory regime.

Karen Kunz is associate professor of public administration at West Virginia University.Jena Martin is associate dean for innovation and global development at West Virginia University.