Spatt '75 appointed SEC's chief economist for two-year term

While it seems inevitable that a Yalie will be in the White House for the next four years, Princetonians can still be proud that a Tiger will help guide the economy.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has named Chester Spatt '75 as its next chief economist and director of the commission's Office of Economic Analysis.

Spatt is currently the Mellon Bank Professor of Finance and director of the Center for Financial Markets at Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business.

"I am pleased to welcome Dr. Spatt to the Commission staff at such a critical time for our financial markets," SEC Chairman William Donaldson said in a March 31 press release. "I look forward to his insight and analysis into the important issues we are facing."

Spatt chose his major, economics, after taking Introduction to Macroeconomics as an undergraduate at the University.

"I liked the blend of quantitative reasoning and application to real markets that is at the heart of economics," he said in an email. "Economics seemed very intuitive to me and my underlying combination of skills seemed to be a good fit for it as a major."

He wrote his thesis on "An Application of Mathematical Programming to Airline Scheduling." Although he did not pursue that topic later in his career, he recalled the thesis as a "great experience" that helped prepare him for graduate economics work at the University of Pennsylvania.

Though he originally planned to study law, Spatt said he changed his mind "shortly before graduation when I realized that I was rather envious of my classmates who would be going to economics graduate school."

In addition to his academic work, Spatt was involved in several extracurricular activities at the University, including serving as special projects editor at The Daily Princetonian.

"[T]here was great spirit among the staff and it was a great environment for learning about the issues of the day (there were many in the early 1970s), how to write quickly and effectively and meeting deadlines," he said in an email.

Spatt was also a member of Stevenson Hall, the predecessor of the Center for Jewish Life, and Whig-Clio.

While on campus Spatt said he heard speakers like House minority leader Gerald Ford, presidential candidate Jimmy Carter, CBS News White House correspondent Dan Rather and Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir.

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In the spring semester of 1984, Spatt returned to the University as a visiting assistant professor to teach a graduate course in financial economics.

"I enjoyed that teaching experience very much," he said. "My students were very bright and engaging; in fact, one of the students in my class recently served as coeditor of the Review of Economic Studies, one of the leading journals in economics."

Spatt was enthusiastic about his new job. In the SEC press release, he said, "I am delighted to have this opportunity to join Chairman Donaldson and his outstanding staff at the Securities and Exchange Commission to work on the important issues facing America's financial markets."

In an announcement from Carnegie Mellon, Tepper School of Business Dean Kenneth Dunn said, "Chester has been an international leader in finance-related research for decades. His work has been widely published in the top finance and economics journals . . . Chester's appointment as the chief economist is well-deserved and especially valuable for our country and financial markets."

Spatt will begin serving his two-year appointment on July 1.