If you're driving and happen to kill a pedestrian, you may, of course, be slapped with manslaughter charges. On the other hand, if you're running a huge financial company and your management decisions remove billions of dollars of wealth from the economy and you threaten the entire financial system, you'll receive a multimillion pay package. (See Dick Fuld, Angelo Mozilo, et al.)

Paul Collier of the Guardian has put forth a novel, if slightly gruesome-sounding, concept...