Data, Discretion, and Dodd-Frank: Thoughts on the Future of Securities Regulation

Myron Scholes Global Markets Forum

September 24, 2012, 5:30–7 p.m., Gleacher Center

The Dodd-Frank Act seeks to mitigate the prospect of a future financial crisis, but the act is just the beginning. The SEC faces tough policy decisions as it implements key aspects of the legislation. This is in addition to the agency’s other regulatory responsibilities, including enforcing the federal securities laws. The discussion will be motivated by such questions as, What policy tradeoffs do we confront when implementing Dodd-Frank? Is there a risk of overregulation? What are the effects of regulatory uncertainty? What is the role of cost-benefit analysis in regulating the securities markets? How can the SEC make the best use of data? These questions remain timely as the implementation of Dodd-Frank continues.

This event was part of the Initiative on Global Markets (IGM) and was generously sponsored by Myron Scholes.

Speaker Profiles


Troy Paredes was appointed by President George W. Bush to the US Securities and Exchange Commission and was sworn in on August 1, 2008.

Before joining the SEC, Paredes was a tenured professor at Washington University School of Law in St. Louis. He also held a courtesy appointment at Washington University’s Olin Business School. Paredes primarily taught and researched in the areas of securities regulation and corporate governance.

During his tenure as a professor, Paredes made presentations around the country on securities law and corporate governance, and he served as an expert on various legal matters. In addition, Paredes has researched and written on numerous topics such as executive compensation; hedge funds; private placements; the allocation of control within firms among directors, officers, and shareholders; the psychology of corporate and regulatory decision-making; behavioral finance; alternative methods of regulation and market-based approaches to corporate accountability and securities regulation; comparative corporate governance, including the development of corporate governance and securities law systems in emerging markets; and the law and business of commercializing innovation. Paredes’s scholarly work, among other things, has advocated for rigorous cost-benefit analysis when regulating and emphasized the need for accessible and understandable disclosures that investors can use effectively.

As a professor, Paredes has authored articles addressing these topics, and he is also a coauthor (beginning with the fourth edition) of a multivolume securities regulation treatise with Louis Loss and Joel Seligman entitled Securities Regulation.

Before joining Washington University’s faculty in 2001, Paredes practiced law at prominent national law firms. As a practicing lawyer, he worked on a variety of transactions and legal matters involving finance, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate governance.

Paredes graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, with a bachelor’s degree in economics in 1992. He went on to graduate from Yale Law School in 1996.

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