This study examines changes in SEC enforcement and firm cooperation after the SEC introduced its new cooperation program in 2010. While previous research shows that the SEC penalized cooperative firms prior to 2010, our results suggest that after that year, it rewarded cooperation, especially good faith actions. We also find that after 2010, the SEC increased mentions of cooperation in public speeches and publicized more details about firm cooperative activities in AAERs. Finally, we find some evidence that misconduct firms increased good faith cooperation after the SEC revised its cooperation program in 2010. Our findings suggest that having a more explicit leniency program improves its effectiveness.

这项研究考察了SEC在2010年推出新合作计划后SEC执法和公司合作的变化。虽然先前的研究表明SEC在2010年之前对合作公司进行了处罚，但我们的结果表明，在那年之后，SEC奖励了合作，特别是诚信动作。我们还发现，2010年之后，SEC在公开演讲中增加了对合作的提及，并公开了有关AAER中公司合作活动的更多详细信息。最后，我们发现一些证据表明，在SEC于2010年修改合作计划后，行为不端的公司增加了诚信合作。我们的发现表明，制定更明确的宽大处理计划可以提高其有效性。