RT Article
T1 What is really unethical about insider trading?
JF Journal of business ethics
VO 9
IS 3
SP 171
OP 182
A1 Moore, Jennifer
LA English
PB Springer Science + Business Media B. V
YR 1990
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/1785600419
AB Insider trading is illegal, and is widely believed to be unethical. It has received widespread attention in the media and has become, for some, the very symbol of ethical decay in business. For a practice that has come to epitomize unethical business behavior, however, insider trading has received surprisingly little ethical analysis. This article critically examines the principal ethical arguments against insider trading: the claim that the practice is unfair, the claim that it involves a “misappropriation” of information and the claim that it harms ordinary investors and the market as a whole. The author concludes that each of these arguments has some serious deficiencies; no one of them by itself provides a sufficient reason for outlawing insider trading. This does not mean, however, that there are no reasons for prohibiting the practice. The author argues that the real reason for outlawing insider trading is that it undermines the fiduciary relationship that lies at the heart of American business.
K1 Ethical Argument
K1 Ethical Analysis
K1 Inside Trading
K1 Sufficient Reason
K1 Economic Growth
DO 10.1007/BF00382642