Insider trading, ethical attitudes and culture: An experimental market analysis

Both the economic efficiency and ethical aspects of insider trading have had a great deal of attention for a number of years. This experimental study bridges the economic and ethics literature by addressing the issue of whether market participants respond only to economic factors, or whether non-economic (ethical) factors are also reflected in their behaviour. The experimental evidence indicates that subjects reacted in an economically rational fashion to the profit opportunities afforded by the possession of inside information and to the existence of a penalty. But they also tended to act in accordance with instructions not to use private information, and this behaviour appears to conflict with the widely held economic assumption that agents in a competitive market will exploit all legal opportunities to economic gain. Copyright © 2006 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.