WASHINGTON - The chief economist of the Securities and Exchange Commission, who is a specialist in the financial instruments that figured largely in the 2008 crisis, is leaving his position for the private sector.
The SEC said yesterday that James Overdahl will leave the agency at the end of March to become a vice president of National Economic Research Associates, a consulting firm.
News of his departure comes a few weeks after the SEC imposed new curbs on the practice of short selling stocks over the objections of the two Republican commissioners on the five-member panel, who said there was a lack of economic data to justify the move.
Under a reorganization last September, the SEC’s Office of Economic Analysis headed by Overdahl - which had been independent - was merged into a new Division of Risk, Strategy and Financial Innovation.
