Basic Instructions For Writing A Research Paper About Ethics In Finance

Ethics Overview

Ethics, in general, is the branch of philosophy that deals with morality—what is wrong in right in terms of society’s dictates of what constitutes respectability in terms of behavior. These studies focus upon specific behaviors and choices one makes in life and whether they constitute admirable, good behaviors/choices or negative ones to one’s psyche.

Ethics as a philosophy assumes, on a certain level, that given their own natural instincts, will typically do what is the right thing, left to their own devices.

Ethics in Finance

In finance in general, we often hear of fraud—which is an unethical form of financial behavior, of course. The ethics of finance focuses upon what is good, rational, ethical behavior on the part of both the institution managing individuals’ affairs or on the part of the individual themselves.

For example, in terms of the individual, unethical behavior might be moving money to offshore accounts to avoid paying taxes on huge sums of money.

In terms of the bank or institution—a good an example of unethical behavior would be trading information on stocks that haven’t been released to the public by coming into information individuals are not privy to.

What is “Taking the High Road”

Taking the high road means choosing the path “less traveled by” – in order to make a difference for the general good. For individuals, this would entail being honest about their earnings, for example.

For institutions, this would mean not taking advantage of the excessive amount of private information about money, stocks, and loan or monetary interest rates in order to benefit themselves, friends, or clients in any way that violates information privacy acts.

Financial Ethics is an Industry Wide Phenomenon

So if you are aware of another individual violating what is right and good, in order to take the high road yourself, you must report it.

Writing about Ethics in Finance

When writing about ethics in finance, the most important thing to do is to pick a focus.

If your essay is informative in nature, you might inform your reader about the pervasive problem of violations of financial ethics.

Or, you could focus upon one situation in financial ethics – like a certain pyramid scheme that you want to research.

An argumentative essay might move your reader to act more financially responsible – or for institutions to.