The Ethics of Insider Trading Revisited

Following Manne (1966, Insider Trading and the Stock Market (New York, Free Press)) we introduce a distinction between insider trading and market manipulation on the one hand and corporate insiders versus misappropriators on the other hand. This gives rise to four types of alleged inside transactions. We argue that the literature on insider trading has often targeted inside transactions type II, III and IV but that these arguments do not necessarily hold for type I transactions. We look for consequentionalist as well as non-consequentionalist arguments against type I transactions and demonstrate that these are hard to find. Throughout the article we refer extensively to the economic literature on insider trading in order to overcome a relative divide between the economic, legal, and philosophical discussion on insider trading.

Applying Ethics to Insider Trading

Insider trading has received a bad name in recent decades. The popular press makes it sound like an evil practice where those who engage in it are totally devoid of ethical principles. Yet not all insider trading is unethical and some studies have concluded that certain kinds of insider trading are actually beneficial to the greater investment community. Some scholars in philosophy, law and economics have disputed whether insider trading should be punished at all while others assert that it should be illegal in all cases. This paper explores the nature of insider trading and analyzes the issues to determine the positive and negative aspects of insider trading, and how policy should be changed. The best hope would be for studies to be made that isolate the individuals or groups who are fraudulently harmed by insider trading. If any such groups exist, then clearly worded legislation could be passed to prevent any fraud from being committed against these individuals and groups, while allowing non-fraudulent transactions to be completed without fear of prosecution. Until it can be clearly determined that someone is fraudulently harmed by insider trading, there should be no law or regulation restricting the practice, since such restrictions violate individual rights and will likely have a negative market reaction. Robert W. McGee is a professor at the Andreas School of Business, Barry University in Miami, Florida, USA. He has published more than 50 books and more than 400 scholarly papers in the fields of accounting, taxation, economics, law, philosophy and ethics. He holds doctorates in several fields, including accounting, economics, law and philosophy. He is an attorney and a certified public accountant (CPA).     

The Challenges of Detection and Enforcement of Insider Trading

Taking advantage of the China’s recent anti-corruption campaign, we attempt to examine the effect of public governance on a firm’s incentive to commit fraud. Using enforcement actions data from the Chinese Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) from 2004 to 2014, we find that, due to enhanced public governance, firms are less likely to commit fraud in the post-campaign period than in the pre-campaign period. We further show that the effect of public governance is more evident in privately held listed firms, in firms with weak legal environment, and in firms in areas with poor local economies. In addition, we find that older CEOs respond less actively to the public governance caused by anti-corruption regulations. This paper offers clear policy implications for business ethics by indicating that public governance provides external monitoring of corporate decisions.     

The Economics of Insider Trading: A Free Market Perspective

We deny that asymmetrical information is a market failure. In order to make this case, we subject to critical scrutiny the strongest case for this thesis: the view that laws prohibiting insider trading are viable, necessary, or compatible with the rule of law.     

Ma and Sun on Insider Trading Ethics

Ma and Sun have recently argued that some forms of insider trading are ethically acceptable. We argue that the authors fail to prove three key premises of their argument, which is therefore unsound.     

Ownership Structure and Insider Trading: Evidence from China

In this paper, we examine the information content of insider transactions in China and analyze how ownership structures shape market reaction to these transactions. We find that the cumulative abnormal return (CAR) to insider purchases is a convex function of the percentage of shares owned by the largest shareholder. Further, the CAR to insider purchases is lower when the largest shareholder is government-related, or when the control rights of the largest shareholder exceed its cash flow rights. We also find that the market reaction to insider purchases is more positive for firms audited by Big4 auditors. However, we do not find a significant relationship between an ownership structure and the market reaction to insider sales. Our results are remarkably robust to alternative model specifications, corporate insider identities, and recent corporate news releases on price-sensitive events. Finally, we show that market reaction to insider purchases is larger for firms with less severe expropriations, as captured by the use of other receivables.     

The Determinants of Regulatory Compliance: An Analysis of Insider Trading Disclosures in Italy

This paper investigates the determinants of regulatory compliance in corporate organizations. Exploiting a unique enforcement and reporting framework for insider trading in Italy, we present three main findings. First, board governance, such as chief executive–chairman duality and the proportion of non-executive directors, does not increase the propensity of firms to comply with regulation. Second, family firms and firms with a high degree of separation of ownership from control are most likely to comply with regulation. Third, corporate ethos is more important in predicting regulatory compliance than explicit corporate governance structures.     

Ethical Reasoning and the Use of Insider Information in Stock Trading

The cognitive developmental theory of ethics suggests that there is a positive relationship between ethical reasoning and ethical behavior. In this study, we trained a sample of accounting and finance students in performing competitive stock trading in our state-of-the-art trading room. The subjects then performed trading of stocks under two experimental conditions: insider information, and no-insider information where significant performance-based financial awards were at stake. We also administered the Defining Issues Test (DIT). Ethical behavior, as the dependent variable was measured in a binary scale: whether the subjects used insider information for trading of stocks or not. Ethical reasoning as measured by the DIT P-score indicated statistically significant effect on ethical behavior. The results have important implications for recruitment and training of professionals engaged in the use of financial markets for securities trading.     

An Experiment Testing the Determinants of Non-Compliance with Insider Trading Laws

Recent stories of corporate insiders avoiding losses and, in some cases, generating enormous personal profits as their companies crumbled have led investors to question the integrity of American business and the fairness of the United States stock markets. The SEC tries to ensure the fairness of the stock markets by making and enforcing laws against unfair practices such as insider trading. In the United States, when insiders trade stock based on non-public information, they have broken the law and betrayed the trust that has been placed in them.This study used student subjects to test the relationship between the likelihood of trading based on insider information and subjective probabilities of deterrents and motivations for insider trading. Expected gain, guilt, cynicism, and fairness of laws were the determinants that had a significant relationship with the intent to trade based on insider information. This study also found support for prospect theory with regard to insider trading. The results indicate that subjects are more likely to trade based on insider information to avoid a loss than to achieve an abnormal gain. The study also finds evidence of social desirability response bias.Additional findings of the study were that subjects did not view the determinants for themselves in a manner consistent with how they viewed those same deterrents and motivations for other people. Also, a test of the effects of gender found that certainty and social stigma were significantly higher for female respondents than for male respondents.     

The Issue of Insider Trading in Law and Economics: Lessons for Emerging Financial Markets in the World

Growth of the private sector and privatization of state companies around the world have led to the emergence of various stock markets, some of which are depicted by insider trading. Law literature uses the arguments of unfairness, breach of fiduciary rights and damage to others to define and rule against insider trading. Economic literature can be used to interpret insider trading from other perspectives. This study argues that the question of insider trading in developing markets can be resolved by the extent stock markets generate externalities and are public goods. It advocates structural changes in the developing markets and examines the conditions under which the Coase Theorem would work.     

Insider Trading, Investor Protection and an Orderly Capital Market: Lessons for the Czech Republic

A member of the Institute of Economics of the Czech National Bank reflects on what the developing Czech capital market has to learn, and how it can best protect investors. The views expressed in this paper are those of its author, Dr Dedek, and do not necessarily represent those of the Czech National Bank. This research has been sponsored by a grant awarded under the ACE Programme of the European Community. The paper has benefited from interviews with Professor Colin Mayer and other members of the Economics Department of the University of Warwick.     

内部控制与内部人亲属卖出股票交易行为的市场反应--来自深市上市公司的经验证据

本文运用事件研究法分析了市场能否对内部人亲属卖出股票交易行为做出显著的反应,并探求内部控制在其中的影响。研究发现：内部人亲属在卖出股票交易中表现出了准确的市场择机能力,市场对此有着显著的负面反应;与内部控制质量高的上市公司相比,内部控制质量低的上市公司的内部人亲属能够更为成功地选择在股价大幅度上升的恰当时点卖出股票,市场对此的反应也更加强烈。     

Insider trading revisited

A recent article in this Journal argued that insider trading is an unethical practice leading to an inefficiently functioning market. The debate on this topic has primarily pitted ethical defenses of prohibition against economic arguments extolling its allowance. In addition to being incomplete, this approach ignores other unwanted economic effects of prohibition itself and unethical implications of its existence. This article shows that Adam Smith's free market concept, when properly interpreted, provides all the incentive structure necessary for an efficient and ethical marketplace even when insider trading is permitted. Deryl W. Martin has presented his research at several regional and national conferences, and has published in the Journal of Economics and Business, the Journal of Strategic and Financial Decisions, The Moneypaper, and several proceedings and newspapers. He is currently Assistant Professor of Finance at Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville, TN.Jeffrey H. Peterson is a doctoral candidate in finance at the University of Alabama. He also has presented his research at several regional and national meetings, and is currently Instructor of Finance at St. Bonaventure University in Olean, NY.     

贸易大国的问题及出路

在中国外贸累计突破1万亿美元后,中国成为世界贸易大国已是不争的事实。但是,贸易大国并不等同于贸易强国,而贸易大国和贸易强国对我国经济的发展贡献度是大相径庭的。所以,探讨我国外贸的现存问题及解决思路,对我国的经济发展有着较为重大的意义。     

海外十年磨剑创建中粮鹏利

鹏利有限公司是中国粮油食品进出口总公司(原名)下属的一个独资子公司,其业务一直以贸易为主,靠“贸易兴家”。在20世纪80年代后期,该公司在“贸易兴家”的基础上,开始探索新的发展道路,制定了“以贸易为龙头,以实业为基础,实现工贸结合,向集团化、实业化、国际化方向迈进的发展战略。经过多年努力,鹏利有限公司已发展成为一个具有竞争实力的综合性集团企业。     

The Export Trading Company Act:

The Export Trading Company Act (ETCA) was signed into law in 1982 by then President Ronald Reagan. The goal of this legislation was to promote U.S. exports by allowing U.S. banks to hold an equity U.S. exports by allowing U.S. banks to hold an equity position in Export Trading Companies (ETCs) and by exempting the overseas activities of these organiziations from U.S. antitrust laws. The writers of this legislation hoped that the American ETCs would eventually grow to rival the Japanese General Export Trading Cmopanies known as sogo shosha's. This paper focuses on the history of the ETCA, its problems, and the current state of Export Trading Companies (ETCs) in the U.S. When the ETCA was established, the dollar was on an upward trend and was relatively high compared to other major currencies, such as the Deutsche mark, Japanese yen, and pound sterling. The legislation had a somewhat minor effect of exports, as few companies came together to form ETCs. With the fall of the dollar, an important question to ask is: Has the drop of the dollar contributed to a rise in interest in forming ETCs?     

论股权泛化条件下的内部人控制

普遍认为国有控股上市公司内部人控制严重的根本原因是一股独大，我们对此提出异议。本文首先利用博弈论和实证结果指出股权集中度与内部人控制强度是负相关的；然后通过实证研究中国国有控股上市公司的股权集中度和内部人控制，以及公司治理效率，说明中国的情况似乎与上述规律相反；最后提出了股权泛化的概念，证明由于股权泛化，国有控股上市公司实际上没有大股东，其内部人控制极其严重是股权集中度与内部人控制强度负相关规律的必然表现。因此，国有控股上市公司内部人控制严重的原因恰恰是因为没有大股东。     

The Trading of Purchase Interest for Concept Believability

The increasing riskiness and cost associated with product development are major blocks to the successful marketing of new products. This study discusses the application of magnitude estimation scaling and benefit modelling to the measurement of consumer reactions for a wide array of systematically varied product concepts. The trade-off between different consumer reactions (e.g., purchase interest vs believability) is considered in the light of optimal combinations of benefits for directing concept and strategy development. Implications for product development and the identification of alternative advertising copies are additional benefits which emerge from the modelling process.