Carl Safina: The savings an loan crisis of the eighties is the death knell of the unit bank. He says it's not just saving on institutions, but lots of small banks which are heavily invested in real estate and that they're competing in a very difficult environment. Safina: Many people are realizing that the us has to get serious about creating an efficient banking system.
Charles Calomiris of Columbia University and Stephen Haber of Stanford University, co-authors of Fragile by Design: The Political Origins of Banking Crises and Scarce Credit, talk with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about their book. The conversation focuses on how politics and economics interact to give some countries such as Canada a remarkably stable financial system while others such as the United States have a much less stable system. The two authors discuss the political forces that explain the persistence of seemingly bad financial regulation. The conversation includes a discussion of the financial crisis of 2008.