Myron Scholes, intellectual godfather of the credit default swap, says blow 'em all up

http://curiouscapitalist.blogs.time.com/2009/03/06/myron-scholes-intellectual-godfather-of-the-credit-default-swap-says-blow-em-all-up/

Myron Scholes, whose Black-Scholes option pricing model provided the intellectual underpinning for modern derivatives markets, thinks one particular derivatives market—that for credit default swaps—is due for a Red Adair style rescue. Or a Fred Adair style rescue.

Red Adair put out oil well fires by setting off gigantic explosions at the wellhead. "My belief is that the Fred Adair solution is to blow up or burn the OTC market in credit default swaps," Scholes said this morning. What that means, he elaborated, is that regulators should "try to close all contracts at mid-market prices" and then start up the market anew with clearer rules and shorter-duration contracts.

Hmm, there we go. I'm not sure his work on options pricing really makes him an expert on CDS contracts, but he still knows a lot more than I do.