This is from a couple of years ago, but is still relevant. An excerpt:
The financial crisis that began in the sub-prime mortgage market is at least the third major financial crisis to include a breakdown in the United States housing finance sector. During the Great Depression, banks and balloon mortgages were involved in a collapse. In the 1980's, we experienced the Savings and Loan Crisis. Currently, we are dealing with the aftermath of a boom-bust cycle in house prices that was exacerbated by risky lending practices.
A sobering fact is that the response to each of the first two crises helped to lay the groundwork for the next – and current -- crisis. It turns out that financial regulation is not like a math problem, which can be solved once and stays solved. Instead, financial regulation is like a chess game, in which moves and counter-moves proceed continually, eventually changing the board in ways that players have not anticipated.
Thus it is with all regulations. That statement is not meant to be taken as an argument against all regulations, but just a cautionary sentence saying that regulations change the rules of the game and players will eventually adapt in ways that cannot be anticipated.
HT to Newmark's Door.