The 2007 Meltdown: A Legal Phenomenon

This dissertation makes the argument that the Meltdown is a failure of regulation rather than capitalism. Consequently the gap, that legislators and the judiciary - supressed by executive activism - left, becomes unbearable. Secondly, it is submitted that bailouts are failed policies. For the first time, Game Theory has been used to demonstrate why bailouts were relied upon. Finally, this work will use law, alongside economics, as one of the tools to explain this and future financial crises. Economics has the ability to identify triggers of financial crises, whereas law indicates how a crisis may unfold. Thus, the use of both subjects is crucial in order to have a comprehensive understanding of a meltdown.