Securities Law Commons^™

Congressional Securities Trading, Gregory Shill

Indiana Law Journal

The trading of stocks and bonds by Members of Congress presents several risks that warrant public concern. One is the potential for policy distortion: lawmakers' personal investments may influence their official acts. Another is a special case of a general problem: that of insiders exploiting access to confidential information for personal gain. In each case, the current framework which is based on common law fiduciary principles is a poor fit. Surprisingly, rules from a related context have been overlooked.

Like lawmakers, public company insiders such as CEOs frequently trade securities while in possession of confidential information. Those insiders' trades are …

Owning Stock While Making Law: An Agency Problem And A Fiduciary Solution, Donna M. Nagy

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Legislation And Legitimation: Congress And Insider Trading In The 1980s, Thomas W. Joo

Indiana Law Journal

Orthodox corporate law and economics holds that American corporate and securities regulation has evolved inexorably toward economic efficiency. That position is difficult to square with the fact that regulation is the product of government actors and institutions. Indeed, the rational behavior assumptions of law and economics suggest that those actors and institutions would tend to place their own self-interest ahead of economic efficiency. This Article provides anecdotal evidence of such self interest at work. Based on an analysis of legislative history-primarily congressional hearings-this Article argues that Congress had little interest in the economic policy effect of insider trading legislation in …