Expertise and representation in financial institutions: UK legislation on pension fund governance and US regulation of the mutual fund industry

Decision making is often the responsibility of committees, boards and agencies assuming that many issues are best resolved by smaller, specialised units of decision making. The product of 'representative democracy' and a pragmatic response to 'large numbers' and 'complexity&...

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Main Author: Clark, G
Other Authors: Academy of Social Sciences
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: Routledge 2007
Subjects:
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author Clark, G
author2 Academy of Social Sciences
author_facet Academy of Social Sciences
Clark, G
author_sort Clark, G
collection OXFORD
description Decision making is often the responsibility of committees, boards and agencies assuming that many issues are best resolved by smaller, specialised units of decision making. The product of 'representative democracy' and a pragmatic response to 'large numbers' and 'complexity', these bodies are thought to efficaciously combine representation with expertise. Governments use these types of institutions in a variety of ways, and have become a key institution of New Labour's 'third way'. However, there is a growing tension between representation and expertise. If the former provides legitimacy for the latter, the latter may be compromised by the former in matters of requiring sophisticated judgement relative to market agents. It is argued that the tension between representation and expertise is growing for two reasons: perceived 'shortfalls' in democratic practice have prompted governments to broaden the representativeness of many public and private institutions set against an apparent need for greater levels of sophistication in decision making driven by financial markets. These arguments are developed through discussion of that which was inherited from 19th century liberalism, a set of analytical distinctions between deference and delegation, and two examples drawn from the UK and US finance industries. In conclusion, it is noted that apparent solutions, such as relying wholly upon experts, are fraught with danger: there may be such a disconnection between expertise and moral commitment that the former without the latter may give decisions that are hard to justify on any ground.
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spelling oxford-uuid:becc16ec-5a45-43db-b458-9e0f5c301f272022-03-27T05:42:38ZExpertise and representation in financial institutions: UK legislation on pension fund governance and US regulation of the mutual fund industryJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:becc16ec-5a45-43db-b458-9e0f5c301f27EconomicsPensionsGeographyEnglishOxford University Research Archive - ValetRoutledge2007Clark, GAcademy of Social SciencesDecision making is often the responsibility of committees, boards and agencies assuming that many issues are best resolved by smaller, specialised units of decision making. The product of 'representative democracy' and a pragmatic response to 'large numbers' and 'complexity', these bodies are thought to efficaciously combine representation with expertise. Governments use these types of institutions in a variety of ways, and have become a key institution of New Labour's 'third way'. However, there is a growing tension between representation and expertise. If the former provides legitimacy for the latter, the latter may be compromised by the former in matters of requiring sophisticated judgement relative to market agents. It is argued that the tension between representation and expertise is growing for two reasons: perceived 'shortfalls' in democratic practice have prompted governments to broaden the representativeness of many public and private institutions set against an apparent need for greater levels of sophistication in decision making driven by financial markets. These arguments are developed through discussion of that which was inherited from 19th century liberalism, a set of analytical distinctions between deference and delegation, and two examples drawn from the UK and US finance industries. In conclusion, it is noted that apparent solutions, such as relying wholly upon experts, are fraught with danger: there may be such a disconnection between expertise and moral commitment that the former without the latter may give decisions that are hard to justify on any ground.
spellingShingle Economics
Pensions
Geography
Clark, G
Expertise and representation in financial institutions: UK legislation on pension fund governance and US regulation of the mutual fund industry
title Expertise and representation in financial institutions: UK legislation on pension fund governance and US regulation of the mutual fund industry
title_full Expertise and representation in financial institutions: UK legislation on pension fund governance and US regulation of the mutual fund industry
title_fullStr Expertise and representation in financial institutions: UK legislation on pension fund governance and US regulation of the mutual fund industry
title_full_unstemmed Expertise and representation in financial institutions: UK legislation on pension fund governance and US regulation of the mutual fund industry
title_short Expertise and representation in financial institutions: UK legislation on pension fund governance and US regulation of the mutual fund industry
title_sort expertise and representation in financial institutions uk legislation on pension fund governance and us regulation of the mutual fund industry
topic Economics
Pensions
Geography
work_keys_str_mv AT clarkg expertiseandrepresentationinfinancialinstitutionsuklegislationonpensionfundgovernanceandusregulationofthemutualfundindustry