Outstanding, Ian. I didn't realize it came from Orlin, though how "square" he -- or anyone else who thinks about digital bearer money -- is anymore I leave to the reader as an exercise... More to the point, I didn't realize that google crawled the Venona cypherpunks "deep" archives. Now *that's* cool... Even more to the point, I probably even read the message below, and forgot it, which, for some reason, is *really* cool. A neuron is a sad thing to smash, and all that... Cheers, RAH --- begin forwarded text Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Fri, 11 Aug 2000 10:48:28 -0400 From: Ian Grigg <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "R. A. Hettinga" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: "The Standard" discovers Regulatory Arbitrage "R. A. Hettinga" wrote: > Hughes used to say "regulatory arbitrage" a lot on cypherpunks, when I > showed up in spring of 1994, in reference to exactly the kinds of stuff > Vince does, and that's where *I* picked it up, certainly. J. Orlin Grabbe (sp?) lays claim to having invented the term in about 1990 in a book he wrote then on the subject. He also claims (from memory) that Eric Hughes got the term from reading his book. I can't remember where Grabbe's site is, I'd refer interested parties to that, including disputers to my obviously flaky memory :) However, google (J. Orlin Grabbe "regulatory arbitrage" "Eric Hughes") turned up: http://cypherpunks.venona.com/date/1994/06/msg00396.html <snippet> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Regulatory Arbitrage From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Eric Hughes) Date: Thu, 9 Jun 94 10:02:28 -0700 Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Here a quotation from a book I've been reading: "The eurocurrency markets represent a type of regulatory arbitrage. Eurobanking is a managed financial package that combines the currency of one country (one regulatory environment) with the banking regulations and competitive efficiencies of another country. This repackaging was made possible by improvements in worldwide communications links and information technology. If the regulatory burden becomes too high in one area of the world, the bundle of eurobanking services can be reassembled in another. Hence, national regulators must compete to maintain their respective shares of the eurocurrency business. Competition with respect to lending quotas, reserve requirements, capital requirements, deposit insurance, the taxing and reporting of interest payments, and the taxing of profits, dividends, and capital gains, all measured against any perceived positive benefits of local regulation, governs the geographical distribution of eurocurrency market shares." From _International Financial Markets_, by J. Orlin Grabbe, formerly of the Wharton School. Regulatory arbitrage is an Important concept, as well as a great phrase. The writer is square in the middle of the mainstream in the business world, and note how effortlessly he speaks of avoiding governments and playing them off against each other.... </snippet> -- iang PS: I don't think I'm on the lists where this discussion is taking place, but feel free to copy if not already covered by others... --- end forwarded text -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
