This exact sentiment is exactly how research was born. In large complex systems, a few ideas pop up that take the system in non-intuitive directions; non-linear

This exact sentiment is exactly how research was born. In large complex systems, a few ideas pop up that take the system in non-intuitive directions; non-linearity of influence of small factors, hidden factors, etc. Also, I would counter that in a firm, the legal and immoral loopholes that would give one party greater wealth would do so 1) at the expense of other parties inside the firm and 2) run the risk of bad optics / PR to institutional investors who look out for things like this when evaluating a firm. Lastly, the aggregate of these factors is baked into the return on investment of a stock. In other words, I suspect that might be happening in firms that are making alot of money and providing healthy returns for shareholders. Alot less so at firms that are struggling and not providing much growth.