Search Results for “harm”

The many harms from conflicts of interest

A new post in the FCPA Blog. I hope you find it  useful.

The harm from conflicts you often can’t see

A few days ago Newsweek ran a piece on the Trump family’s “endless conflicts of interest,” describing in detail several dozen actual, apparent and potential conflicts, and related ethical infirmities. Another such list is maintained and periodically updated by The Atlantic. The sheer volume of these cases is so overwhelming […]

Is corruption a harmless foul?

In a book review published last weekend in the Wall Street Journal titled “Two Cheers for Corruption,”  the prolific scholar Deidre McCloskey argues that while corruption can be harmful to some societies (such as Afghanistan, the subject of one of the books she reviews), “The Great Enrichment that America rode […]

Massive but (mostly) harmless conflicts of interest

The conflicts of interest will be enormous when  the recently announced merger between Publicis and Omnicom – each a giant ad agency (or collection of agencies) in its own right – is finalized.  Both companies, through their respective subsidiaries,  represent major players in such industries as automotive,   telecommunications,  food,  beverages, and beer […]

A pharma cure for moral hazard?

“Moral hazard” – one of the three  principal areas of focus of this blog  – refers to a situation in which there is a disconnect between, on the one hand, those with the capacity and motivation to engage in risky behavior and, on the other, those who will bear the likely […]

Ethical standards for Caesar’s spouse

“Caesar’s wife should be above suspicion,” Julius Caesar famously said.  But that’s not always how it works. The issue of higher standards has been explored  (among other places) in a prior posting.  It has also recently arisen in connection with scrutiny of various business activities of Virginia Thomas, Justice Clarence Thomas’ […]

What is a page of compliance worth?

Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes famously said that a page of history can be worth a volume of logic.  This raises the question – at least among C&E professionals – What is a page of compliance worth? At least to my mind the answer is:  Potentially quite a bit. Among other […]

Loyalty as an ethics risk

Movie mogul Samuel Goldwyn famously said: “I’ll take fifty percent efficiency to get one hundred percent loyalty.”  But too much loyalty can be bad for reasons that go beyond inefficiency, as shown by ex-President Trump’s call for then FBI director Comey to be loyal to him personally. On the other […]

Compliance officers as “ministers for the future.”

In The Ministry for the Future   science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson draws a truly harrowing picture of the cataclysmic harm that climate change could inflict on our planet in the not-so-distant future. His tale is also about how a newly conceived UN ministry might try to save the […]

Compliance program assessments: the basics

Justice Holmes famously said The life of the law has not been logic: it has been experience. But when it comes to compliance and ethics (“C&E”) programs both law and experience matter. To an extent never previously seen companies are assessing their C&E programs. The main reason is that the […]