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Alexander Kurov, Professor of Finance and Fred T. Tattersall Research Chair in Finance, West Virginia University

What's insider trading and why it’s a big problem

Gordon Gekko of ‘Wall Street’ may be the fictional face of insider trading. Ilona Gaynor/flickr, CC BY-NC-SA

There’s a growing bipartisan push to prohibit members of Congress from buying or selling stocks. The shift follows news reports that several senators sold stocks shortly after receiving coronavirus briefings in early 2020 and that at least 57 lawmakers have failed to disclose financial transactions since 2012 as required by law.

Congress passed that law – the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act, also known as the STOCK Act – in 2012 to fight insider trading among lawmakers with increased transparency. But a chorus of legislators and governance watchdogs argue that it didn’t go far enough and isn’t working.

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