SEC Names Larry Harris New Chief Economist
Harris holds the Fred V. Keenan Chair in Finance at the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business.
Harris joins the Commission July 1, taking a two-year leave from Marshall. He succeeds Acting Chief Economist William J. Atkinson, who is retiring after 30 years with the agency.
The SEC works closely with the securities industry and with other government agencies to ensure that markets work well. The economists at the SEC play a central role by helping the commission and its staff better understand the many economic forces that affect markets.
As chief economist, Harris said he will be responsible for leading these efforts, working under chairman Harvey Pitt and with commissioners Cynthia A. Glassman and Isaac C. Hunt Jr.
"The tremendous prosperity of our economy depends critically on having fair and well-functioning markets," said Harris. "Good markets do not just happen. Exchanges, brokers, dealers, traders and regulators must act together to create markets that promote the common good."
Innovations in trading technologies, trading products and corporate financing arrangements present many difficult issues that need to be well understood before good policies can be created, he added.
"Recent high profile bankruptcies and scandals also raise many concerns that do not have obvious answers. I look forward to addressing these questions with the assistance of my new colleagues on the staff of the Office of Economic Analysis," said Harris.
Recognized as one of the top 100 most cited finance and business economics researchers, Harris specializes in financial economics, volatility and stock index markets. He previously served as economic fellow in the SEC's Office of the Chief Economist, as well as a visiting scholar at the New York Stock Exchange.
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USC in the News
for 2/8/2012 »-
The Chronicle of Higher Education mentioned USC’s $6 billion fundraising campaign. The story noted that USC had already raised $1 billion in a “quiet phase,” including the $200 million naming gift from USC Trustee and alumnus David Dornsife and wife Dana Dornsife to the USC Dornsife College.
The Guardian (U.K.) highlighted two major gifts to USC in a list of the 10 biggest philanthropic benefactors in America. The list included the $200 million naming gift from USC Trustee and alumnus David Dornsife and wife Dana Dornsife to the USC Dornsife College, and the $110 million gift from USC Trustee and USC Viterbi School alumnus John Mork and wife Julie to create the USC Mork Family Scholars Program.
The New York Times featured the USC U.S.-China Institute documentary “Assignment: China — The Week that Changed the World.” The documentary, part of a series, examines media coverage of the 1972 Nixon trip that reshaped U.S.-China relations after a quarter century of isolation and hostility. “People look back now and take it for granted that the outcome was preordained,” said the institute’s Mike Chinoy, who produced the documentary. Voice of America also featured the story.
Los Angeles Times featured the Oscar Senti-meter, a tool developed by the USC Annenberg School, Los Angeles Times and IBM that analyzes thousands of tweets about the Academy Awards nominees. The story noted that Mexican actor Demian Bechir received an enormous boost on Twitter the day of the nominations, with a total of 6,893 tweets mentioning him, a 47-fold increase from the day before. The story noted the tool uses language-recognition technology developed in collaboration with USC Viterbi School’s Signal Analysis and Interpretation Lab.
The Times of India (India) featured a three-day medical emergency training workshop organized in association with USC. At the workshop, held at GCS Medical College in India, 50 doctors and more than 100 paramedics learned how to improve emergency support systems. William Mallon of the Keck School of USC said that discussion topics included the use of portable ultrasonic devices to scan patients. “The ultrasound applications help physicians make accurate and timely decisions,” he noted. Daily News & Analysis (India) also featured the workshop.
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