While one cannot say that there has been a flood of enforcement actions in which the activities of municipal officials have been scrutinized, there is enough to make it clear that the SEC is paying attention.

Despite rumors to the contrary, information does not want to be free.

Are the problems experienced by the Treasury market the result of a shortage of information or an excess of expensive regulation? Perhaps there is a connection, for example, between the new liquidity requirements and increased volatility or diminished liquidity in Treasury securities. Perhaps there is a relationship between increased regulatory costs and the diminishing number of clearing firms. Perhaps, in the worst correlation, imposing new registration and other requirements will only…

It is almost certainly not the case that economic analysis is something that both political parties can agree upon. To the extent that either party seeks to use financial regulation as a device for political gain, economic analysis will always run a distant second in importance to polling.