Statement Summary
The SEC announced that Dr. Joshua T. White will return as Chief Economist and Director of the Division of Economic and Risk Analysis (DERA) effective January 5, 2026. Dr. White, an expert in financial regulation and cryptocurrency, previously served in various roles at the SEC from 2012 to 2018, conducting cost-benefit analyses of SEC rulemaking. He has recently worked as a senior advisor and acting chief economist at the PCAOB.
SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins praised Dr. White’s expertise in economic analysis and expressed gratitude for his commitment to enhancing the SEC’s regulatory practices. Dr. White aims to provide unbiased economic analysis to support informed rulemaking, reinforcing market confidence. He holds degrees in finance from the University of Tennessee and has published research in multiple academic journals.
Original Statement
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that financial economist and academic scholar Dr. Joshua T. White will return to the agency beginning the week of Jan. 5, 2026, to serve as its Chief Economist and Director of the Division of Economic and Risk Analysis (DERA), which integrates financial economics and rigorous data analytics into the SEC’s core mission. Robert Fisher, who has served as the SEC’s Acting Chief Economist since January, will continue to support the agency’s mission in DERA.
Dr. White previously conducted cost-benefit analyses of SEC rulemaking between 2012 and 2018 while serving in various DERA roles including financial economist, visiting academic scholar, and expert consultant. For the past 18 months, he has been on leave from his position as assistant professor of finance at Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management to serve in the Office of Economic and Risk Analysis at the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), where he was a senior advisor until he became acting chief economist this past April.
“Josh is a well-respected researcher and a true champion of rigorous economic analysis in regulatory policy, and his expertise in financial regulation and cryptocurrency makes him a tremendous fit to lead our efforts to ensure that high-quality economic analysis continues to underpin SEC rulemaking,” said SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins. “I am grateful that he is returning to the SEC as we restore our agency to a regulatory practice that includes reliably quantifying the potential costs and benefits of any rule. I also extend my great thanks to Robert for his valuable initial leadership in this area as Acting Chief Economist.”
Dr. White said,
“I want to thank Chairman Atkins for this opportunity to come back to the SEC and serve alongside the talented economists in DERA to provide the type of thorough and unbiased economic analysis that the Commission needs to inform its rulemaking. Together we will utilize a wide range of research and perspectives to enhance robustness in our analyses and strengthen confidence in our markets.”
Among his earlier experience, Dr. White was an assistant professor of finance at the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business prior to joining the faculty at Vanderbilt. He has contributed his research in corporate finance and corporate governance to such academic journals as the Review of Financial Studies, Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Accounting and Economics, The Accounting Review, Review of Finance, and Review of Corporate Finance Studies.
Dr. White holds a BS, MBA, and Ph.D. in finance from the University of Tennessee’s Haslam College of Business, where he is a past recipient of the Outstanding Ph.D. Alumnus Award.
