Ethical Issues Related to the Mass Marketing of Securities

This paper examines ethical issues involved in the mass marketing of securities to individuals. The marketing of products deemed “socially questionable” or “sinful” (like tobacco and alcohol) has long been recognized as posing special ethical challenges (Kotler, P. and S. Levy: 1971, Harvard Business Review 49, 74–80; Davidson, D. K: 1996, Selling Sin: The Marketing of Socially Unacceptable Products (Quorum Press, Westport). We contend that marketers should consider securities (i.e. common stock, options) in a similar vein, as a potentially dangerous product. Given the inherent volatility of equity prices, responsible marketers need to exercise caution and restraint in promoting securities. We evaluate whether the NYSE’s current guidelines adequately encourage ethical marketing practices and deter unethical ones. Using recent examples of controversial brokerage advertisements, we expose weaknesses in the Exchange’s vague injunction that members not “mislead” reasonable people by making “exaggerated claims” in their communications. From a moral perspective, we find it troublesome that intentionality need not be present for a promotion to be considered misleading. Also problematic is the continued invocation of the reasonable person standard to judge the propriety of advertisements. We close with some thoughts on improving the quality of securities marketing. We suggest that the NYSE, in the interests of fostering higher ethical behavior among member marketers, may need to revive a marketing code of conduct prevalent on Wall Street in an earlier era.     

国内证券市场自律监管问题分析

证券市场自律监管主体包括三方面：证券业协会、证券交易所在内的自律性组织;证券公司、证券投资咨询公司、会计师事务所、律师事务所等在内的中介机构;市场发行主体和交易主体。一个完善的自律监管体系应是三方面都能做到自我约束、自我监管。要达到这种效果,需要通过以下措施：完善证券市场法律法规,提高违法成本;完善相关机构的内部治理;提高自律性组织自律监管能力,理清权责关系等。     

Global corporate social responsibility reporting regulation

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has steadily grown in importance. We show government regulation on corporate reporting of CSR, aimed to spur its growth and increase transparency, has grown in tandem. Such reporting regulation is more readily observable than CSR itself and can be used as a proxy for the latter. We show that larger economies with higher institutional capacity find it easier to develop reporting regulations, and that international influences and local pollution increase concerns are important contributing factors. We show that such regulation also increases CSR, even after accounting for common unobserved factors that may affect both.     

平台自治的监管问题研究——以平台的双重身份为视角

平台自治在市场监管中具有双重作用,即其自身作为监管链条的关键一环发挥主动性，同时作为监管中介为公共部门的市场监管提供支持。在此种机制下，平台自治对监管政策 构成了挑战。一方面平台自治有可能抑制创新；另一方面平台自治因其超前于监管政策的更新也会引发与现有监管政策的冲突。因此，对平台自治的监管路径需要思考，既要发挥平台自治的优越性，又要规制其限制竞争的行为。国家监管政策的着力点也需要相应调整，在监管政策上要从对平台用户的直接监管转向为平台制定自我监管的指导；同时需要规范平台技术，以技术监管促进监管目标的实现。面对平台经济的组织模式和技术在监管中日益深刻的作用，需要坚持“网络中立性”原则和平台规则透明度原则，实现监管政策与平台自治的协调。     

Young adults' online shopping addiction: The role of self-regulation and smartphone use

Online shopping addiction can be defined as an Internet-based behavioural addiction which may lead to economic problems. Even though shopping is increasingly common through mobile devices, the effects of smartphone use on online shopping addiction are underexamined. Following a survey of 1000 18 to 29-year-olds in Finland, we examined young adults' online shopping addiction and economic problems from the perspective of self-regulation and problems in regulating smartphone use. The results indicated that low self-regulation in an online environment facilitates online shopping addiction, which further leads to dissatisfaction toward personal money management through indebtedness. Moreover, we illustrated how distractive stimuli of digital environments can act as primers for addiction by showing how problems in regulating smartphone use facilitates online shopping addiction for young adults with generally low self-regulation. We conclude our article by offering guidance on how the teaching of self-regulatory strategies as well as financial and information communications technology skills may decrease the tendency for online shopping addiction.