Edward Kane

Edward J. Kane (June 30, 1935 – March 2, 2023) was an American economist and writer.

He was a long-time student of incentive conflict in financial regulation and in crisis-management policies.

His writing contends that too-big-to-fail policies are rooted in the cultural norms of major central banks around the world.

Kane was born in Washington, D.C., on June 30, 1935, and died in Tucson, AZ on March 2, 2023.

He received a BS from Georgetown University and a Ph.D. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he studied under Evsey Domar, Charles Kindleberger, Paul Samuelson and Robert Solow.

In August 1959, he married Gloria Verdi, who died in 2012.

They have three children,: Laura Kane, Stephen Kane and Edward F. Kane.

Economic Statistics and Econometrics: An Introduction to Quantitative Economics originally published in 1968.

Economic statistics and econometrics are branches of applied statistics.

They develop and validate procedures that guide the collection and analysis of economic data.

The study of these fields seeks to explain how empirical data can be turned into meaningful information households, businesses, and governments need to make optimal decisions in their economic and policy affairs.

Source:

“Ethical Conflicts in Managing the S&L Insurance Mess”

From 1972 to 1992 he held the Everett D. Reese Chair of Banking and Monetary Economics at the Ohio State University.

Before that, he was an assistant professor at Iowa State and Princeton Universities and had been a professor of economics at Boston College.

Kane is a past president of three professional associations: the American Finance Association, the International Atlantic Economic Society, and the North American Economics and Finance Association.

He was a founding member of the Shadow Financial Regulatory Committee and served for 12 years as a trustee and member of the finance committee of Teachers Insurance Annuity Association.

For many years, he was a consultant for the World Bank and a senior fellow in the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation's Center for Financial Research.

He has been a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research for over 30 years.

Over his career, Kane consulted for numerous organizations including the International Monetary Fund|IMF], various components of the Federal Reserve System, the Joint Economic Committee, the Congressional Budget office, and the Office of Technology Assessment of the U.S. Congress and several foreign central banks.

Widely published in professional journals, he is the author of three books and credited with coining the term Zombie Bank.

He served on five Editorial boards at the time of his death.

“Tracking Variation in Systemic Risk at US Banks During 1974-2013” (with Armen Hovakimian and Luc Laeven)

“Deposit Insurance Around the World: A Comprehensive Analysis and Database” (with Aslı Demirgüç-Kunt and Luc Laeven)

“How is Jamie Dimon Like a Smoker on an Airplane?” Huffington Post (6/18/15)

“Perspectives on Banking and Banking Crises”

“Unpacking and Reorienting the Executive Subcultures of Megabanks and their Regulators”

In the late 1980s, the United States experienced its first banking crisis in over 50 years.

This book shows that, for many years, unbooked losses were allowed to accumulate at commercial banks, savings banks, and savings and loan associations (S&Ls).

This book analyzes the cause and estimates the costs of the impending failures.

These costs exceeded the resources of the two federal deposit-insurance funds.

The author predicted that these excess losses would be charged to U.S. taxpayers rather than depositors.

The Gathering Crisis in Federal Deposit Insurance , which was published in 1985.

This is a comprehensive discussion of FDIC and FSLIC policies and procedures.

The book warned bankers, regulators, politicians, and taxpayers that the deposit-insurance system was headed for a breakdown.

It argues that unless better regulatory discipline was introduced, the problem would grow.

Eventually, a series of depositor runs would reveal widespread insolvency among financial institutions.

The Gathering Crisis in Federal Deposit Insurance provides describes the variety of risks facing deposit institutions, explains the risk-bearing incentives in the current deposit-insurance arrangements, documents the extent of actual insolvency at insured institutions, and proposes a framework for reform.

The S & L Insurance Mess: How Did it Happen? published by the Urban Institute Press in 1989.

He served as the first James F. Cleary Professor in Finance at Boston College from 1992 to 2009, where he continued to serve as research professor until his passing.