In this case, the private gains are modest and the public damage is huge.
Particularly important are externalities where the public damage done undermines the sustainability of business activity itself.
The episode caused deep concern within the Department for Education (DfE) – fearful of the public damage a delay in publishing the results could cause.
He says Reclaim may "never recover" from the public damage caused by a photograph of the swastika on the back of May's skull at Reclaim's first rally in April.
Last year, he intervened in a row over the newly appointed bishop of Sheffield, saying Philip North's opposition to female priests would "cause significant pastoral and public damage to the church".
On Monday morning it was revealed that the Catholic church had paid more than $43m in compensation to victims in a process which it is alleged sought to mitigate public damage to the church rather than address victims' needs.
The absence of such dominant first-term personalities as former adviser David Axelrod and former chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, who could bridge those differences, has left the White House scrambling to contain its public damage.
"It sounds like this is not only an unusual crime, but one that involves very public damage to a very important institution -- the Presidency," said Professor Freed, who added that he was speaking generally as he was not familiar with the specifics of the case.
