The Securities and Exchange Commission did not need to look far for a new chief economist. Just across town was James Overdahl, chief economist of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, who will assume the same position at the SEC on August 6.
“He will bring deep and wide experience to the agency,” SEC chairman Christopher Cox said of Overdahl, a financial-derivatives specialist. “And his considerable experience as a federal regulator makes him ideally suited to ensure that rigorous economic analysis is fully integrated into the commission’s rulemaking and policymaking process.”
Overdahl replaces Chester Spatt, who leaves the SEC at the end of July to return to Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business. In his position at the CFTC since 2002, Overdahl has been responsible for providing economic advice, policy analysis, research, and expert testimony. This will be his second stint at the SEC, having worked there as a senior financial economist in the Office of Economic Analysis from 1989 until 1992.
The SEC’s new chief economist also has experience in the private sector and in academia. He was a consultant for Strategic Petroleum Inc. in Texas and has taught economics and finance at the University of Texas, Georgetown University, Johns Hopkins University, and George Washington University. He holds a PhD in economics from Iowa State University.
A prolific publisher, Overdahl has written several books, including Financial Derivatives,Understanding Futures Markets, and Futures, Options, and Swaps. He has also published articles in such journals as the Journal of Law and Economics, the Journal of Derivatives, and the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis.
Overdahl’s selection could signal the SEC’s increasing anxiety about the risks of hedge funds. In testimony earlier this month before the House Committee on Financial Services, Overdahl discussed the importance of keeping a watchful eye on hedge funds, despite the fact that they are unregulated. “Hedge funds are on the CFTC’s market-surveillance radar whether their operators and advisers are registered or not,” he said.
Although Overdahl does not begin work at the commission until next month, SEC spokesman John Heine said in response to a request from CFO.com that Overdahl was not permitted to discuss his new position at this time.
