The Department of Labor recently announced it would no longer prioritize investigations and enforcement actions against employee stock ownership plans (ESOP). The Capitol Forum account of this policy change notes the regulatory concerns this announcement raises and quotes Professor Sean Anderson extensively. “Some actors in the ESOP industry will be incentivized to be less careful and more aggressive about valuation and fiduciary decision making,” he said.

In a new opinion article published by Bloomberg, Professors Sean Anderson and Robert Lawless explain why they believe the Trump administration’s decision to allow workers to invest retirement savings in cryptocurrency and private equity is a bad decision for the workers. “There is no reason to expect that inviting plans to offer these alternative investments will lead to better outcomes overall for participants—especially considering the higher fees and expenses that typically come with them,” they write. “But there is ample reason to think these investment options will make things worse by increasing the risk of large losses for participants, most of whom can ill afford them.”