i'd be interested in canvassing austrians' views of insider trading.
here in australia, it's illegal, as in the usa, but successful prosecutions are extremely rare, and generally rely on the accused rolling over. on the other hand, stock and option turnover often spikes just prior to official announcements to the stock exchange. there are stocks where trading is dominated by certain favoured brokers (often with underwriting/sponsorship links to the listed company).
if you accept that it is widespread, notwithstanding the legislative countermeasures, and the monitoring agencies, why not abolish the charge altogether?
What is insider trading really, a breach of contract at most.
I read a daily article here where they went into the complete and total lack of a definitive definition, pretty much anything can be considered insider trading... Even if you're not an 'insider' like in Martha Stewart's case.
There's a bunch of info out there I'm just too lazy to look up the links...
Economic efficiency requires insider trading, since it means that the people most qualified to make decisions as to the allocation of capital are doing so. If you do not have insider information, you should not be invested in this particular asset.
The fallacies of intellectual communism, a compilation - On the nature of power