Politicians and economists, pondering the problems caused by unfettered speculation, face an old dilemma. As Alexander Baring, head of the family lately brought down by Nick Leeson, remarked in 1825, any attempt to check speculation might be counterproductive: “the remedy would be worse than the disease, if, in putting a stop to this evil, they (the authorities) put a stop to the spirit of enterprise.”

According to the text,

Item 3 - the thrust of Baring’s argument is that checking speculation might bring about an evil that is even worse than speculation itself,