White-Collar Crime

Term Paper # 101499

White-Collar Crime

This paper analyzes the rise of white-collar crime within the United States in light of John Maynard Keynes' and Adam Smith's free market systems.

1,451 words () | 6 sources | MLA | 2008 United States

Paper Summary:

The paper examines the problem of white-collar crime in relation to the free market global economy, which has played a large role in increasing corporate crimes. The paper looks closely at the economic theories of Adam Smith and John Maynard Keynes that explain free market abuses. The paper concludes that although Keynesian regulatory theories provide a strong groundwork for a justice and rights based system of rules to control and balance free market economies, the lack of government enforcement through the private sector allows corporate criminals to go unpunished.

From the Paper:

"The central issue of Adam Smith's "hidden hand" economics in the free market economy is the growing failure of the U.S. government to regulate the way that banking has been practiced in global markets. One example of this was the problem of the Savings and Loan Crisis, which often deregulated banking institutions, causing problematic ethical issues through justice based theories of fair and balanced market behaviors. In this case, the government did not enforce restrictions on competitive measures for commercial banks for the greater benefit of the banking industry."

Sample of Sources Used:

Geis, Gilbert. White-Collar Crime: Offenses in Business, Politics, and the Professions. New York: Free Press, 1994.
Glasberg, Davita. "The dialectics of white-collar crime: the anatomy of the savings and loan crisis and the case of Silverado Banking, Savings and Loan Association - Special Invited Issue: Money, Trust, Speculation and Social Justice - Part 1: Trust, Confidence, and Crime." 1998. The American Journal of economics and Sociology. Find Articles Database. 14 November, 2006. <http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0254/is_4_57/ai_53449306/pg_2>
Rosoff, Stephen. Profit without Honor: White-Collar Crime and the Looting of America. New York: Prentice Hall, 2003.
Sutherland. Edwin. White Collar Crime: The Uncut Version. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1985.
Swift, Richard. "Corporate Crime Wave." 2006. New Internationalist, July. Find Articles Database. 14 November, 2006. <http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0JQP/is_358/ai_105767343/pg_1>