Allowing mixing of commercial and investment banking in 1990s
The removal of the Glass-Steagall Act's restrictions on mixing commercial and investment banking in the 1990s.
Mark Thoma, associate professor of economics at the University of Oregon gives a brief overview of the background to the Glass Steagall Acts:

"Many people associate the onset of the Great Depression with the stock market crash in October 1929. But a more important cause was a series of banking panics in the years prior to the Great Depression, and the particularly severe banking collapse from 1930-1933.

The response to this crisis and the devastating economic disruption that came along with it was the Banking Acts of 1933 and 1935, also known as the Glass-Steagall Acts. The goal was to stabilize the banking system by enhancing the power of the Federal Reserve to regulate financial markets and to intervene when problems emerged.

And it worked. The changes resulted in a very long period, over 50 years, where financial markets remained calm."

CONTEXT(Help)
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The Global Financial Crisis »The Global Financial Crisis
Long-term causes of the financial crisis? »Long-term causes of the financial crisis?
Unintended consequences of earlier public policy choices »Unintended consequences of earlier public policy choices
Investment banks incentivised to move into riskier activities »Investment banks incentivised to move into riskier activities
How were investment banks incentivised to increase risk? »How were investment banks incentivised to increase risk?
Allowing mixing of commercial and investment banking in 1990s
Allowed commercial banks to compete with investment banks »Allowed commercial banks to compete with investment banks
Enabled commerical and investment banking conglomeration »Enabled commerical and investment banking conglomeration
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