Peterson, KyleGabrielsen, Lance2024-01-092024-01-092024-01-09https://hdl.handle.net/1794/29142I explore how ethnic and gender diversity at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) affects its investigation decisions. Employing a novel dataset of SEC employees, I find a positive association between SEC office-level diversity and the propensity of the Commission to open investigations. These results strengthen when interacted with the occurrence of a trigger that an investigation may be warranted. This evidence is consistent with diversity improving the investigative abilities of the agency. Additionally, I study how diversity influences investigation outcomes. I find that more diverse offices open investigations that are shorter and less likely to lead to enforcement. While potentially suggestive of the inefficiencies of diversity, this evidence is also consistent with more diverse staff being assigned less serious, easier-to-resolve investigations. Lastly, I find that SEC-firm similarity moderates the diversity-investigation relation. Specifically, when both the SEC staff and firm executives have high levels of diversity, the Commission is less likely to open investigations, highlighting a potential leniency bias towards diverse firms.en-USAll Rights Reserved.Electronic Thesis or Dissertation