From: Rafal Smigrodzki (rafal@smigrodzki.org)
Date: Fri Jun 06 2003 - 10:15:46 MDT
Harvey wrote:
> Lee Daniel Crocker wrote,
>
>> But of course this could be easily handled by contract law instead of
>> being imposed by fiat
>
>> And again, is clearly a matter for contract and tort law.
>
>> Again, all quite well handled by contract law.
>>
>> I see no compelling reason for legislation in this matter. If stock
>> markets that contractually restrict insider trading are better than
>> those that don't, then they'll succeed in the marketplace. If they
>> don't, then the legislation is counterproductive.
>
> Is there something specific about these types of crimes that you think
> should keep the government out? Or is this just a global statement
> that you want the government out of all crime prevention?
### It is worth remembering that the specific actions performed by Ms
Stewart are referred to as "crimes" only because a statute classified them
as such. It is therefore a subtle psychological manipulation to use this
term here. I feel that in deciding if insider trading is to be restricted by
voluntary contracts or monopolistic power players, we should use
considerations of economic efficiency rather than allowing emotionally
loaded concepts to interfere with our judgment.
Rafal
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