On Adam Smith, Gordon Gecko And Controls On Self-Interest

Maybe it's due to technology, maybe the global economy or maybe the revelations about corporate behaviour as one company after another, melting down and asking for taxpayer aid, laid bare the truth behind their balance sheets. Layman and businessman alike have come to realise that the old taboos surrounding ways of behaviour in the business world no longer work - or perhaps worked inefficiently at best. There are laws, of course, and regulations to force compliance. "Many laws are onerous to business," says Gabel. "And the latest financial crisis makes that eminently visible.