Jonathan Macey on the SEC

http://www.futureofcapitalism.com/2011/07/jonathan-macey-on-the-sec

A professor at Yale, Jonathan Macey, has a piece up on the Hoover Institution Web site about the Securities and Exchange Commission and how it judges its own success: "The SEC satisfies its monitors in Congress, in academia, and in the press by focusing on factors that can be measured. In particular, the SEC focuses on two factors: (a) the raw number of cases that it brings; (b) on the sheer size of the fines that it collects."

Professor Macey doesn't make this point, but this is like judging a police force's success by a rise in the number of arrests rather than by a decline in the number of crimes.

More: "notwithstanding the fact that the SEC's budget nearly tripled between 2000 and 2010, the Commission's current chairman and senior staff have argued that its recent failures can be addressed by increasing the agency's funding."

by Editor  |  Jul 10, 2011 at 12:14 am Related Topics:  Education, Government Spending, SEC receive the latest by email: subscribe to the free futureofcapitalism.com mailing list