CFTC OIG Reports to Congress
Commentary by Bob Zwirb
The CFTC Office of the Inspector General ("OIG") issued its Semiannual Report to Congress. The report summarizes the activities of the OIG from April 1, 2015 through September 30, 2015, during which time it "completed 2 audits, one management review (audit), one review (non-audit) and 2 management letters (non-audit)."
Commentary
In the middle of a routine discussion about the report's auditing findings, this alarming paragraph appears:
"Office of the Chief Economist Follow-up Review. In February of 2014, we released a review of the CFTC's decision to shut-down long-term research, bar publication of completed research, and eliminate 2/3rds of the economists affiliated with the Office of the Chief Economist shortly after receipt of an unsubstantiated allegation that trade data was being improperly accessed and/or published. We are following up to determine whether recommendations made in February 2014 were implemented."
Let's hope that most of the eliminated economic positions affiliated with the Office of the Chief Economist were transplanted and assimilated in the operating bureaus. If not, then these revelations about the treatment of economic research are not encouraging, especially given the IG's findings a few years back regarding the marginalization of economists' roles in the CFTC's Dodd-Frank rulemaking.