The concept of insider dealing

This essay offers background considerations on insider dealing. The goal is to take a broad view of the evolution of the phenomenon and the legal discourse surrounding it, rather than dwelling in the technicalities. This requires adopting an historical perspective and comparing and contrasting different regulatory approaches (in the interest of brevity, the focus is on the US and Europe, which offer a good proxy for most existing regulatory models). The economic and ethical basis invoked to support— or criticize— the prohibition are then briefly discussed. Finally, a few open questions or regulatory challenges that might be relevant in the next few years are considered.