It’s the Economy, Stupid: Rudy Giuliani, the Wall Street Prosecutions, and the Recession of 1990-91

Almost anyone who was of age and living in the United States during the 1980s will remember that it was given the moniker of “Decade of Greed.” As the story went, Ronald Reagan was president of the United States, the Republicans controlled the U.S. Senate for six years, and a “pro-business” administration permitted businesses— and especially Wall Street—to run roughshod over the regulatory process and engage in financial excesses that amounted to, as Stein (1992) put it, an attempt to “bilk the nation.” In the post-Enron era, federal prosecutors seem bent on criminalizing business failures; during the 1980s, however, the business successes were the target of criminal investigations and charges.

Volume 19, Number 4 (2005)