I rarely if ever will use this blog for editorial purposes, but as
a securities lawyer who chose that practice specialty primarily out
of my (economist’s) immense respect for the United States’ capital markets—an
area where we have a comparative advantage in spades—I must draw
your attention to and resoundingly endorse an Op-Ed in today’s Wall
Street Journal by John Thain, CEO of the NYSE:  "Sarbanes-Oxley:  Is
the Price Too High?"

First there was the Foley & Lardner study showing public companies’
compliance costs typically had doubled, then we had evidence that VC’s
were chilled by the suddenly-higher price of life-after-the-IPO, and
now we have evidence that European and Asian firms are staying away
from tapping our capital markets.  This
is not good news.

But then, my approach to securities law is much like my approach would
be to campaign-finance reform:  Anything and everything is legal,
so long as it is instantly, fully, and accurately, disclosed.