Transparency: the biz case for shining a light

Justice Louis D. Brandeis: "disinfecting" corruption. (Image: Wikipedia)

Sat, 15 Mar 2025

“Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants,” US Supreme Court jurist Justice Louis Brandeis famously wrote in Harper's Weekly in 1913. The article was entitled "What Publicity Can Do". It was prompted by a movement targeting corruption and the concentration of economic power, specifically in banking. It was a call for transparency. Brandeis believed that shining "sunlight" would naturally "disinfect" corruption, much like sunlight kills bacteria. He was a proponent of mand...

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