U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission

Position Title/Short Description

Full Text of JOE Listing:

The Office of the Investor Advocate (OIAD) anticipates having multiple full-time Ph.D. Economist, Statistician, and Social Scientist positions to fill during the 2021-2022 recruiting cycle. OIAD is an independent office within the SEC that advocates internally and externally on investor protection issues. Researchers in OIAD are expected to conduct policy-relevant research to advance OIAD’s mission. To that end, researchers are expected to develop and maintain strong policy and academic connections.

The positions will support OIAD’s investor testing initiative, POSITIER (Policy Oriented Stakeholder and Investor Testing for Innovative and Effective Regulation).

Currently, our specific research streams relate to: disclosure effectiveness for better decision-making by retail investors; financial advice; investor perceptions and (non-)participation; investor behavior; and traditional finance topics relevant for investors (e.g., issues in the mutual fund market). In addition, our group conducts independent critiques of the economic analysis of rule proposals that are produced by other parts of the Commission.

We are seeking motivated candidates who are interested in performing high-quality academic and policy research. Candidates completing their Ph.D. in 2021 or 2022 are eligible. Those with an interest in: household finance, labor, behavioral economics, law and economics, finance (particularly mutual funds, but also corporate finance and asset pricing), marketing, decision science, psychology, experiments, or survey methodology are strongly encouraged to apply.

Desired Qualifications:
Ph.D. in Economics, Finance, Statistics, Decision Science, Marketing, Psychology or related fields

An interest in investor issues or the study of investor behavior is desirable.

Strong empirical research skills (e.g. econometrics, design of experiments, survey methodology).

All candidates must be able to analyze existing data and help develop new datasets via surveys, experiments, administrative data, etc.

An interest in working in a fast-paced policy environment is essential. Prior policy experience is desirable, but not required.

Anticipated Roles:
Economists – with a background in household finance, labor, econometrics, behavioral economics/finance, law and economics, or related fields.

Financial Economist – should be able to serve as technical experts on investment products, markets, and asset pricing topics (particularly with investor-focused products like mutual funds and ETFs), or corporate governance issues. The majority of economists in the SEC as a whole are financial economists.

Decision Scientists – should have specialized background in analyzing human judgments or behaviors, marketing, psychology or a related field.

Statistician – should have a strong background in development of household finance and labor surveys, and/or in the design and analysis of experiments.