> "CEOs certainly don't care about prestige and esteem." oh quite the opposite, even for psycho/sociopaths. it's really the core thing that humans care about,

> "CEOs certainly don't care about prestige and esteem." oh quite the opposite, even for psycho/sociopaths. it's really the core thing that humans care about, with everything else, even money (beyond subsistence), only being proxy metrics for it. people kill other people simply for damaging their (self-)image/reputation (the jilted lover being a classic example). the point of this punishment is to strike right at the heart of what humans care most about by knocking them down a number of rungs on the status ladder (prison time alone doesn't do this, as they'll be just a rich and statused coming out and they were going in, though maybe a bit more humble/shameful). you don't necessarily need to make them poor, just relatively poorer than who they believe their peers are. but yes, the key to any of this is to raise the risk considerably, as you noted. no punishment can be effective without credible enforcement.