Academic

I'm in Sweden for a conference and a talk, in between which much research is occurring.  To that end, it is a good thing that it is raining today, because boy, this is a beautiful country.  But it is an action-packed week for the Fed, so a brief observation or two:

• The lost FOIA case on its bailout decisions is an example of how exception 4, which lets the government keep proprietary information private, can really implicate public policy (opinion here).  Because the Fed probably does have proprietary information from regulated companies that they don't want to disclose ... and yet it used it to do all these awesome interventions, which are matters of intense public interest.  In my view, and example of how all bright-line rules have linings that are balancing tests.  Anyway, all the banks could jump in with reverse-FOIA suits now, if the Fed doesn't appeal, which I would expect it might, unless overruled by Justice.
• Simon Johnson is still great reading, and on the re-appointment of Bernanke, he's taking up a new and interesting role - he's becoming a bear, when many of his ilk are abandoning the field to the bulls.
• Should the Fed be doing consumer protection?  As always, as Kevin Drum notes, it partly turns on how you feel about regulatory competition.
• Are you making causal inferences?  Do you want help?