With the recent publication of its final rule, the federal government's Financial Stability Oversight Council is now in position to designate certain nonbank firms as "systemically important financial institutions" (SIFIs). There is probably no aspect of the Dodd-Frank Act that will have more damaging effects on competition in the U.S. financial system.

According to recent press reports, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is considering releasing a controversial proposal to impose additional capital and liquidity regulations on the $2.7 trillion money market fund industry (MMMFs) and to replace the fixed $1 net-asset value ("par value") rule now used by all MMMFs to redeem customer funds with a mark-to-market (NAV) requirement. 

Philip G. Pardey of the University of Minnesota will explain why investment in R&D is so important for increasing agricultural productivity and keeping food prices low.

When partnering with outside consultants to turn around a school, schools districts must consider how the work is setting schools up for long-term success.

The massive underfunded pension funds of states and municipalities and the precarious status of the budgets of these entities have received wide publicity recently.

The financial crisis has highlighted the institutional features of our financial system and regulatory policies that unexpectedly resulted in financial instability.

From the perspective of the corporate profit and loss statement, a trading loss is one expense item in the context of all revenues and expenses. So $2 billion should be compared to the bank's $26.7 billion in pretax profits for 2011, suggesting a reduction of something less than 10 percent in annual profit.