Click here to watch an archived video of the JEC hearing, "Too Big to Fail or Too Big to Save? Examining the Systemic Threats of Large Financial Institutions,”

Washington, D.C. - The Joint Economic Committee (JEC), chaired by Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney, held a hearing on Tuesday, April 21, 2009 at 9:30 a.m. in Cannon House Office Building Room 210. At the hearing, entitled “Too Big to Fail or Too Big to Save? Examining the Systemic Threats of Large Financial Institutions,” economists including Joseph Stiglitz and Simon Johnson focused on new policy responses to failures at large financial institutions. The hearing examined what criteria policymakers and regulators should use to determine when institutions pose systemic risk – at what point financial firms become ‘too big to fail’ – and how regulators should deal with them when they are insolvent.