THE SAVINGS-AND-LOAN DEBACLE, FINANCIAL CRIME, AND THE STATE

The savings and loan crisis of the 1980s was one of the worst financia l disasters of the twentieth century. We argue here that much financia l fraud of the sort that contributed to this debacle constitutes ''col lective embezzlement,'' and that this collective embezzlement may be t he prototypical corporate crime of the late twentieth century. We furt her argue that the state may have a different relationship to this kin d of financial fraud than to manufacturing crime perpetrated on behalf of corporate profits. In the conclusion, we suggest that an understan ding of the relationship between financial fraud and state interests m ay open up new regulatory space for the control of these costly crimes . Our data come from a wide variety of sources, including government d ocuments, primary statistical data on prosecutions, and interviews wit h regulators.