POSITIER P olicy O riented S takeholder and I nvestor T esting for I - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

POSITIER

Policy Oriented Stakeholder and Investor Testing for Innovative and Effective Regulation Brian Scholl Chief Architect POSITIER Principal Economic Advisor and Senior Economist U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Office of the Investor Advocate

The Securities and Exchange Commission, as a matter of policy, disclaims responsibility for any private publication or statement by any of its employees. Therefore, the views expressed today are our own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Commission or the other members of the staff of the Commission.

Vision

• Test effects of policies on investors before rolling out
• Increase effectiveness of regulations and SEC as regulator
• Measure and monitor developments with investors and other

financial market participants

• Estimate effects of policies and other activities
• Promote evidence-driven policymaking and a culture of

learning

• Encourage outcome-oriented performance metrics in tracking
• rganizational effectiveness
• Integrate academic and policy research into the policymaking

process on issues of household finance

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Investor Testing: Multi-Mode Multi-Purpose Data Collection

Impact Evaluation (Organizational Effectiveness) Ex-post testing framework Measurement (Investor Tracking) Outcomes Contemporaneous Testing (Design of Regulations)

(often) Ex-Ante testing framework

ADMINSTRATIVE DATA

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Surveys: A Puzzle Piece

• Investor testing is not surveys, but surveys key

measurement tool

• Opinion polls limited in value:

– Often insufficient data collected for analysis – Rarely used in serious quantitative studies – Ambiguous results - Actionable policy implications?

• High Quality Measurement Surveys:

– Can help measure contemporary economic conditions – Accuracy and frequency crucial to utility – Measurement surveys: “how are things going?”

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Q: Will the rule work?

METHOD: SURVEY TEST

Disclosure A

Outcomes

50% Disclosure B 50%

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Outcomes

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METHOD: FIELD TEST

Q: Will the rule work?

50% 50%

Proxy vote participation rate

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Iterative Rapid Deployment Partnership

Rapid:

• Flexible Contracting Framework
• High quality, probability-based surveys
• Reduces: costs, development time

Iterative:

• Research findings inform future research endeavors

Partnership:

• OIAD takes the lead in developing tests with academic

partners, rather than relying on handoff to contractors.

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Iterative Research Model

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8 Y N Identify Topic, Assess Feasibility and Scope Research Project Initial Qualitative/ Quantitative Research Testing- focused Data Collection Analysis of Results Next Phase

• f Research
• r Terminate

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Assess State of Knowledge Additional Study in this Phase Needed? (Y/N)

Indicative Development Plan:

Phase I: focus on Topical Research Streams

• Discrete/finite research studies
• Collect qualitative and quantitative data
• Focus: estimation of treatment effects
• Launch 1-2 topics/year
• May involve multiple, iterative tests

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Retail Disclosure Effectiveness

Investor Perceptions and Participation

Retail Proxy Voting

Corporate Disclosure Effectiveness (Issuer Side)

Indicative Development Plan

• Phase II: Periodic Measurement Surveys

– Complement and leverage other public-use microdatasets – Frequency conducive to academic and policy needs – Useful to academic community – public use microdatasets – Integrate with agency performance management

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Conclusion

• Thank you to all who have been so

supportive

• An endeavor that everyone can get behind
• Leadership support is crucial
• Want to change culture over time

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