The Center for Financial Policy at the Smith School of Business hosted a policy chat with Craig Lewis, SEC Chief Economist and Director of the Division of Risk, Strategy, and Financial Innovation on April 25, 2012 in College Park, MD. Faculty and students from the Smith School of Business, School of Public Policy, and the Department of Economics attended the chat to with Dr. Lewis to discuss the SEC rule-making process. The Policy Chat series generates research interests, ideas, and possible collaborations among the faculty, students and agency economists and creates a dialogue that is accessible to a wide audience.
Dr. Lewis spoke about cost-benefit analysis in SEC rulemaking. He also highlighted the role of economic analysis and the need for research-based commentary from academia in the rulemaking process. He and the policy chat’s attendees also discussed the use of credit ratings to gauge risk, as well as capital formation in the domestic vs. global marketplace and public vs. private markets. The chat wrapped up with a discussion about the regulation of money market funds, which is currently on the SEC’s rulemaking agenda. Dr. Lewis and group spoke about the risk of runs and arbitrage, as well as tools that may decrease those risks, such as floating NAV and capital buffers.
About Craig Lewis
Craig M. Lewis was named SEC Chief Economist and Director of the Division of Risk, Strategy, and Financial Innovation (RiskFin) in May 2011. RiskFin was created in September 2009 to provide interdisciplinary analysis to help inform the Commission’s policymaking, rulemaking, enforcement and examinations. Dr. Lewis previously was the Madison S. Wigginton Professor of Finance at Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management and a visiting scholar at the SEC. He first served as a visiting academic fellow at the SEC from January to July 2010, and subsequently returned in that same capacity in January 2011. Over this period he has provided advice on policy issues, worked on developing analytic approaches to identify violations of securities laws, and analyzed the over-the-counter derivative securities market.
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