August 26, 2002
2002-08-26: Notes on Corporate Reform

2002-08-26: Notes on Corporate Reform

Other things that would be nice (but that are outside of Harvey Pitt's control):

--No more than 10% of an IRA or 401(k) can be held in any individual instrument.

-- 401(k) plans should not offer employer's stock as an option.



Insider trading. Arthur Levitt's SEC greatly worried about how to further restrict insider trading. A very hard problem: an insider who doesn't have access to material, non-public information is truly an idiot who is not doing his or her job. Point of public policy: require *publicity* so that investors can see if the insiders are bailing out (hence only somebody truly ignorant of the purpose of the law could say that for insiders filing your sale-of-stock forms more than half a year late is the equivalent of doing 60 in a 55 mph zone, as President Bush's spokesmen have done); and to prohibit insiders from dumping (or accumulating) stock when the information gap between insiders and outsiders is egregiously large, for some vague definition of "egregiously large" that turns out in practice to be what a prosecutor can convince a jury to convict on...

Posted by DeLong at August 26, 2002 03:27 PM | Trackback

Email this entry
Email a link to this entry to:


Your email address:


Message (optional):


Comments
Post a comment
Name:


Email Address:


URL:


Comments:


Remember info?