


The SEC’s September Enforcement Spike
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) periodically reports on its performance to the public and Congress, emphasizing metrics such as the number of enforcement actions (“cases”) filed (see, e.g., SEC, 2018, 2020). Former co-directors of the Division of Enforcement acknowledge the potential dangers of focusing on quantitative measurements: “the raw number of cases filed or the total amounts of fines and penalties assessed during an arbitrary time period such as a single fiscal year—cannot adequately measure the effectiveness of an enforcement program…[and] can result in a misalignment of incentives and objectives” (SEC 2018). We examine this concern by testing whether … Read more