what is quid pro quo 
quid pro quo is a latin term for something for something that originated in the middle ages in europe it describes a situation when two parties mutually agree to exchange goods or services reciprocally in a quid pro quo agreement one transfer is thus contingent upon some transfer from the other party in business and legal contexts quid pro quo conveys that a good or service has been exchanged for something of equal value it has been used in politics to describe an unethical practice of i ll do something for you if you do something for me but is allowable if bribery or malfeasance does not occur understanding quid pro quothe key to a quid pro quo business agreement is a consideration which may take the form of a good service money or financial instrument such considerations are attached to a contract in which something is provided and something of equal value is hence returned in exchange without such considerations a court may find a contract to be invalid or nonbinding additionally if the agreement appears to be unfair or overly one sided the courts may rule that the contract is null and void any individual business or other transacting entity should know what is expected of both parties to enter into a contract a bartering arrangement between two parties is an example of a quid pro quo business agreement where one exchanges something for something else of similar value in other contexts a quid pro quo may involve something along the lines of a more questionably ethical situation involving a favor for a favor arrangement rather than a balanced exchange of equally valued goods or services quid pro quo is latin for something for something it first appeared in the mid 16th century in reference to substituting one medicine for another 1negative perception of quid pro quoquid pro quo arrangements can have negative connotations in certain contexts for example in a quid pro quo agreement between an investment bank s research arm and a public company the bank might amend its rating of the company s shares in exchange for underwriting business in response to these potential conflicts of interest u s financial regulators have investigated and issued rules to ensure that firms put customers interests before their own in issuing stock ratings 2another example of a questionable quid pro quo agreement in business is a soft dollar agreement in a soft dollar agreement one firm firm a uses another firm s firm b research in exchange firm b executes all of firm a s trades this exchange of services is used as payment instead of a traditional hard dollar payment research has shown that transactions executed under soft dollar arrangements cost more than execution only arrangements still soft dollar arrangements such as these are legal in the u s and other places though discouraged in some jurisdictions and viewed as unethical by some critics in the u s the federal election campaign act limits the number of contributions made to a campaign by donors quid pro quo in politicsquid pro quo arrangements may also exist in the political realm as an example in exchange for donations a politician may be obliged to provide a future consideration regarding policymaking or decision making such a quid pro quo does not always imply a bribe however merely the understanding that the politician will consider the donor s wishes when creating policy or voting on legislation much controversy surrounds quid pro quo in politics so much so that in the last 40 years many cases have appeared before the supreme court to define what constitutes an illegal agreement 