This Wall Street Watch Working Paper emphasizes the significant role of the major private credit rating firms in creating the housing bubble and subsequent financial crash of 2007-2008. M. Ahmed Diomande, Secretary of the New York State Senate Finance Committee, and University of Massachusetts, Amherst Profesors James Heintz and Robert Pollin recommend the creation of a public credit ratings agency that would operate free of the perverse incentive system that distorts the work of private firms.

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In this Wall Street Watch Working Paper, Jane D’Arista of the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, details the industry concentration in the U.S. financial sector over the last several decades, analyzes the problem of “too big to fail” institutions, and recommends measures to address industry concentration.

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