This book surveys the law and policy of regulating information flows in capital markets. Part I begins with an overview of the themes, regulatory principles, and challenges that animate information policy, and describes the principal industry, self-regulatory, and regulatory bodies that participate in the governance of information flows in capital markets. Part I further surveys four categories of information in the information production chain: corporate disclosures, quotation and transaction information, information used in credit analysis, and benchmarks. The book discusses how each categor ... More

This book surveys the law and policy of regulating information flows in capital markets. Part I begins with an overview of the themes, regulatory principles, and challenges that animate information policy, and describes the principal industry, self-regulatory, and regulatory bodies that participate in the governance of information flows in capital markets. Part I further surveys four categories of information in the information production chain: corporate disclosures, quotation and transaction information, information used in credit analysis, and benchmarks. The book discusses how each category of information is generated and used and the reasons why regulators seek to intervene in its production or use. It also provides a summary of the relevant framework for securities regulation in the United States, European Union, and other jurisdictions. Part II articulates several objectives of information policy in capital markets—ensuring transparency and access, promoting standardization and higher orders of meaning, and upholding integrity. This Part considers how regulatory aims differ by category and surveys alternative regulatory strategies, often with a view to replacing relatively inflexible regulatory frameworks with more flexible market mechanisms. Part III considers three specific challenges to capital markets regulation—automation, information overload or anxiety, and globalization—and how they affect the utility, integrity, and availability of information flows. This Part assesses the strategies by which policy makers have confronted these challenges, and offers some concluding thoughts on the implications of these phenomena for financial regulation and information policy.