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21 maio 2011

O uso de informação privilegiada realmente é crime?

Postado por Pedro Correia

Robert Murphy responde a esta pergunta num excelente artigo:

A major piece of financial news last week was billionaire Raj Rajaratnam's conviction on 14 counts of securities fraud and conspiracy. Rajaratnam, founder of the hedge fund Galleon Group, was worth an estimated $1.8 billion in 2009. His conviction has pleased those who want the feds to crack down on "insider trading" and show the fat cats on Wall Street that they aren't above the rules.

Although the public generally loves the fall of a ruthless and greedy financial titan — this, of course, is what made Oliver Stone's original Wall Street such a hit — economists have argued for decades that the practice of "insider trading" can actually be beneficial. In practice, the government can use the amorphous "crime" to go after any successful trader it wants. In a free society, there would be no such thing as laws against so-called insider trading.


....Raj Rajaratnam and (even more likely) some of his collaborators may indeed have violated genuine contractual obligations and fiduciary duties to their clients. To the extent that is true, some of their activity might have been illegal even in a truly free-market society.

In general, however, the practice of "insider trading" would not be a criminal offense, because it is impossible to define the concept in a way that wouldn't bar legitimate speculative research and trading. In practice, these laws give the government a very blunt club with which to knock down any profitable firm it wishes.

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