"Call me crazy...

...but I just made a killing!"

It is said that the wartime hero, in executing acts that in civilized society would be considered abhorrent, criminal and murderous, is the peacetime psychopath. But now the peacetime pychopath is none other than today's market mogul.

The Times of London reports on a recent study that concludes that the brain-damaged and emotionally impaired, or rather those unimpaired by emotions or intact brains, make better gamblers and thus take better financial decisions.

The study was conducted on a group of 41 people of "normal IQ," 15 of whom "had suffered lesions on the areas of the brain that affect emotions," presumably the amygdala. Subjected to a simple investment game, the "functioning psychopaths (sic)" significantly outperformed those who were disadvantaged by an undamaged brain or otherwise inconvenienced by human emotions.

Added one of the researchers: "Many CEOs and many top lawyers might also share this trait."