Bailouts are the order of the day. The current series started in England with the British government bailing out Northern Rock, a mortgage lender experiencing a run. Then, in this country, came Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and AIG, followed by a $700 billion Treasury Department hedge fund of mortgage-backed securities. Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, and Iceland have also joined in the bailout parade.

Conceptually and historically, how should we think about government bailouts in times of financial panic or crisis? Are there patterns of successful versus unsuccessful interventions? What are the practical problems to consider? How will we get the bailout interventions to end? These and other relevant questions will be discussed by AEI economists Desmond Lachman and Adam Lerrick; Allan Mendelowitz, a director of the Federal Housing Finance Board; and Carmen M. Reinhart, a professor of economics at the University of Maryland. AEI’s Alex J. Pollock will moderate.