Even though the scope is limited, FINRA's revisiting of the research rules is a positive development. It is important for regulators to be mindful of the fact that investment research may be distorted by conflicts of interest. An equally important consideration should be to encourage firms to produce research and commentary that is useful to investors. Rules that discourage the production of commentary, or that make it impossible for firms to profit economically from the production of…

It seems regulators are beginning to acknowledge that new regulations may have had some negative effects on the financial markets, financial market participants, investors and the economy. See, e.g., ; . This is a welcome development. It is the start of a conversation about the fact that some rules do more harm than good and that not every examination of a rule has to be a partisan or political event.

When even Governor Tarullo admits that Dodd-Frank is not working as planned, it is time for the last holdouts to concede that the statute could use a re-think. His grudging acknowledgment that the evidence is "more anecdotal than systematic" is almost amusing given how available it has been for years. See, e.g., . His admission of (at least potential) error (if one can call it that) should make it obvious that no one (whether in the private sector or in government) can…

Anyone reading this report might be puzzled over what the United States hopes to accomplish with the conflicts minerals rule disclosure requirements. More than half of all issuers report that they do not have the information necessary to make the disclosures. Of the companies that are able to determine whether the minerals that they use are from conflict zones, 60 percent report that they are using minerals from such zones. This leaves only 20 percent that report that they do not use…