Appeared on September 3, 2007
History shows that panicky runs can end when information improves. A bank run in Chicago in June, 1932, ended on July 1 when banks simply put out their monthly financial reports, revealing which were in bad shape and which were fully solvent, according to Joseph R. Mason, a professor at Drexel University's LeBow College of Business. Today, says Mason, markets would function better if banks, hedge funds, and others disclosed more about their holdings, either voluntarily or under pressure from the Fed. "Bernanke could knock some heads together," Mason says.