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Conflict of Interest Analysis

The person giving you the information and the person who profits from your belief should not be the same person.

A conflict of interest exists when someone's financial, political, or career incentives could distort the information they present. This does not automatically mean the information is wrong. A doctor who owns stock in a pharmaceutical company might still give you good advice. But you deserve to know about the stock before you take the advice at face value.

The problem is that conflicts of interest are rarely announced. A think tank funded by fossil fuel companies will publish reports questioning climate science without mentioning who writes the cheques. A news outlet owned by a corporation will cover that corporation's scandals with remarkable gentleness. A regulator who plans to work in the industry they regulate will regulate with remarkable softness. The information looks clean on the surface. The distortion is structural, and you have to look for it yourself.

This is where cui bono becomes practical. When someone presents you with a confident conclusion, trace the money. Who funds the research? Who employs the expert? Who owns the platform? You are not looking for a conspiracy. You are looking for the mundane, predictable ways that financial incentives shape what people choose to say and what they choose to leave out. Most distortion is not malicious. It is just profitable.

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