MIT Sloan appoints Chester Spatt visiting professor and senior fellow

Former SEC chief economist will help shape financial regulation research

September 6, 2017, Cambridge, Mass.––The MIT Sloan School of Management recently announced the appointment of Chester Spatt as the Golub Distinguished Visiting Professor and Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Golub Center for Finance and Policy (GCFP). Spatt, a former chief economist at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, will teach graduate-level classes at MIT Sloan addressing financial regulation. He also will contribute to related topics at the GCFP, where he will play a substantial role in shaping and delivering the Center’s research agenda. 

“We are delighted to welcome Dr. Spatt to the Golub Center. His outstanding research track record and exceptional accomplishments in both academia and government will contribute substantially to expanding the breadth of the Center’s activities in addressing key aspects of financial regulation,” said MIT Sloan Professor Deborah Lucas, academic director of GCFP.Bennett W. Golub, chair of GCFP’s Advisory Board, stated, “Chester is a first-rate scholar whose research interests and policy experience make him the best possible match for furthering the Center’s regulatory research agenda. His portfolio of skills is particularly useful as policymakers are beginning to revisit post-financial crisis regulatory mandates. We could not be more pleased to have him joining the Center.”“I’m excited to join MIT Sloan and the Golub Center because there is a great need to shed sunlight on critical issues involving government regulation of the financial marketplace,” said Spatt. “Government regulatory activities have a profound impact on the capital markets and the allocation of resources across the economy, and it’s very important that policymakers and the public understand the implications of their involvement.”

As a visiting professor and research fellow, Spatt will manage an active research program at the GCFP on critical financial regulatory issues, disseminating findings to policymakers, practitioners and academics. He will interact and collaborate with faculty and students across MIT to bring a multidisciplinary approach to the consideration of financial regulation. 

Spatt comes to MIT Sloan during a leave of absence from the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University, where he serves as the Pamela R. and Kenneth B. Dunn Professor of Finance. He has held academic positions at Carnegie Mellon since 1979, along with visiting professorships at Toulouse University, the University of British Columbia and Princeton University. 

From 2004-2007, Spatt served as the chief economist at the SEC, where he led economic analysis of key regulatory issues. In that position, he focused on fostering stronger ties between the SEC and the academic community, encouraging greater participation from academic experts in the rulemaking process.

He is currently a member of the SEC's Equity Market Structure Advisory Committee and the Systemic Risk Council and previously served as a member of the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Financial Research Advisory Committee and the Federal Reserve Board’s Model Validation Council.

Spatt also is a cofounder of the Review of Financial Studies, a leading journal in financial economics, where he served as its second executive editor. He received his Ph.D. and master's degree in economics from the University of Pennsylvania and his bachelor's degree in economics from Princeton University.

The mission of the Golub Center is to serve as a catalyst for innovative, cross-disciplinary and non-partisan research and educational initiatives that address the unique challenges facing governments in their role as financial institutions and as regulators of the financial system. The Center is building a foundation that will support transformative improvements in the development and execution of financial policy today and in the decades to come. It leverages the Institute’s reputation of academic excellence and commitment to public service, and the acumen of MIT Sloan. For more information on the GCFP, please visit gcfp.mit.edu.

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