"There are many occasions in which anonymity is a perfectly acceptable and, in fact, morally responsible form of behavior, and the protection of anonymity is a moral requirement, " said Rachelle Hollander, director of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Societal Dimensions of Engineering, Science and Technology Program, which funded the project.

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Indeed, an expectation by financial market participants that financial crises will never occur would create its own form of moral hazard and encourage behavior that would make financial crises more, rather than less, likely.

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Instead, the moral molecule works like a gyroscope, helping us to maintain our balance between behavior based on trust and behavior based on wariness and distrust.

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Eckhard Cordes, Cchaiman and chief executive of the German retailer METRO, set the early morning tone at the leadership and trust panel, urging business leaders to help set the moral agenda, echoing an emerging theme across sessions, that sustainable behavior is good for both companies and society.

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At the same time, he expects the subtle moral message will come through clearly enough to change viewers' behavior, persuading them to buy more auto and homeowners policies.

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