Eric J. Gouvin, Western New England Law School, has published The Magic of Money and Banking, in Harry Potter and the Law (Jeffrey E. Thomas and Franklin D. Snyder eds.; Carolina Academic Press, 2010). Here is the abstract.
Creating money out of thin air is one of the few truly magical things Muggles are capable of, which makes it odd that J.K. Rowling did not include a more thoughtful discussion of banking in her Harry Potter books. Indeed, the banking system in the wizarding world seems quite rudimentary -- more like the safe deposit business than true banking. Nevertheless, Muggle bankers and magical bankers face similar problems relating to security and money laundering and they have developed regulatory strategies to deal with those problems.
The full text is not available from SSRN. Support the economy, magicians, and Muggles; buy the book!
Here we go again ... the assinine assumption that Potter et al comes out of this woman's head with no input from anybody else. Isn't she due for trial.. for plagiarism ... in London's High Court... or doesn't that matter? A discussion on banking? What would she know about it or is it axiomatic that the woman is an epert on international banking law as well as everything else?
Posted by: James Hariot | October 21, 2010 at 04:53 AM