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Crime, Punishment, and the Market for Offenses
TL;DR: In this paper, two major themes of the literature are outlined: the evolution of a'market model' to explain the diversity of crime across time and space, and the debate about the usefulness of 'positive' versus 'negative' incentives.
Abstract: Crime is a subject of intense emotions, conflicting ideologies. However, economists have generally explained it as a reflection of individual choice and equilibrating market forces. Two major themes of the literature are outlined: the evolution of a 'market model' to explain the diversity of crime across time and space, and the debate about the usefulness of 'positive' versus 'negative' incentives. Systematic analyses generally indicate that crime is affected on the margin by both positive and negative incentives; there are serious limitations to the effectiveness of incapacitation and rehabilitation; and optimal enforcement strategies involve trade-offs between narrow efficiency and equity considerations.
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TL;DR: An Integrated Protection Motivation and Deterrence model of security policy compliance under the umbrella of Taylor-Todd's Decomposed Theory of Planned Behaviour is developed and it is found that employees in the sample underestimate the probability of security breaches.
Abstract: Enterprises establish computer security policies to ensure the security of information resources; however, if employees and end-users of organisational information systems (IS) are not keen or are ...
1,111 citations
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TL;DR: This article reviewed progress in empirical economics since Leamer's critique and pointed out that the credibility revolution in empirical work can be traced to the rise of a design-based approach that emphasizes the identification of causal effects.
Abstract: This essay reviews progress in empirical economics since Leamer's (1983) critique. Leamer highlighted the benefits of sensitivity analysis, a procedure in which researchers show how their results change with changes in specification or functional form. Sensitivity analysis has had a salutary but not a revolutionary effect on econometric practice. As we see it, the credibility revolution in empirical work can be traced to the rise of a design-based approach that emphasizes the identification of causal effects. Design-based studies typically feature either real or natural experiments and are distinguished by their prima facie credibility and by the attention investigators devote to making the case for a causal interpretation of the findings their designs generate. Design-based studies are most often found in the microeconomic fields of Development, Education, Environment, Labor, Health, and Public Finance, but are still rare in Industrial Organization and Macroeconomics. We explain why IO and Macro would do well to embrace a design-based approach. Finally, we respond to the charge that the design-based revolution has overreached.
913 citations
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors consider the relationship between inequality and crime using data from urban counties and find that inequality has no effect on property crime but a strong and robust impact on violent crime, with an elasticity above 0.5.
Abstract: This paper considers the relationship between inequality and crime using data from urban counties. The behavior of property and violent crime are quite different. Inequality has no effect on property crime but a strong and robust impact on violent crime, with an elasticity above 0.5. By contrast, poverty and police activity have significant effects on property crime, but little on violent crime. Property crime is well explained by the economic theory of crime, while violent crime is better explained by strain and social disorganization theories.
777 citations
Cites background from "Crime, Punishment, and the Market f..."
...Freeman (1996) and Ehrlich (1996) give excellent reviews....
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01 May 2009
TL;DR: A theoretical model of the incentive effects of penalties, pressures and perceived effectiveness of employee actions that enhances the understanding of employee compliance to information security policies and suggests that security behaviors can be influenced by both intrinsic and extrinsic motivators.
Abstract: Secure management of information systems is crucially important in information intensive organizations. Although most organizations have long been using security technologies, it is well known that technology tools alone are not sufficient. Thus, the area of end-user security behaviors in organizations has gained an increased attention. In information security observing end-user security behaviors is challenging. Moreover, recent studies have shown that the end users have divergent security views. The inability to monitor employee IT security behaviors and divergent views regarding security policies, in our view, provide a setting where the principal agent paradigm applies. In this paper, we develop and test a theoretical model of the incentive effects of penalties, pressures and perceived effectiveness of employee actions that enhances our understanding of employee compliance to information security policies. Based on 312 employee responses from 77 organizations, we empirically validate and test the model. Our findings suggest that security behaviors can be influenced by both intrinsic and extrinsic motivators. Pressures exerted by subjective norms and peer behaviors influence employee information security behaviors. Intrinsic motivation of employee perceived effectiveness of their actions was also found to play an important role in security policy compliance intentions. In analyzing the penalties, certainty of detection was found to be significant while surprisingly, severity of punishment was found to have a negative effect on security behavior intentions. We discuss the implications of our findings for theory and practice.
767 citations
Cites background from "Crime, Punishment, and the Market f..."
...Subsequently, invitations were distributed to the employees who work in diverse roles but use computers and internet as a part of their daily work routine....
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TL;DR: The Moving to Opportunity (MTO) demonstration assigned housing vouchers via random lottery to public housing residents in five cities and used the exogenous variation in residential locations generated by MTO to estimate neighborhood effects on youth crime and delinquency.
Abstract: The Moving to Opportunity (MTO) demonstration assigned housing vouchers via random lottery to public housing residents in five cities. We use the exogenous variation in residential locations generated by MTO to estimate neighborhood effects on youth crime and delinquency. The offer to relocate to lower-poverty areas reduces arrests among female youth for violent and property crimes, relative to a control group. For males the offer to relocate reduces arrests for violent crime, at least in the short run, but increases problem behaviors and property crime arrests. The gender difference in treatment effects seems to reflect differences in how male and female youths from disadvantaged backgrounds adapt and respond to similar new neighborhood environments.
748 citations
Cites background from "Crime, Punishment, and the Market f..."
...…for criminal offenses suggests that antisocial cliques in more affluent communities could engage in more criminal offending, particularly property offending, because the availability of more lucrative loot may shift the demand-for-offenses schedule outward [Ehrlich 1981, 1996; Cook 1986].30 29....
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TL;DR: In fact, some common properties are shared by practically all legislation, and these properties form the subject matter of this essay as discussed by the authors, which is the basis for this essay. But, in spite of such diversity, some commonsense properties are not shared.
Abstract: Since the turn of the twentieth century, legislation in Western countries has expanded rapidly to reverse the brief dominance of laissez faire during the nineteenth century. The state no longer merely protects against violations of person and property through murder, rape, or burglary but also restricts ‘discrimination’ against certain minorities, collusive business arrangements, ‘jaywalking’, travel, the materials used in construction, and thousands of other activities. The activities restricted not only are numerous but also range widely, affecting persons in very different pursuits and of diverse social backgrounds, education levels, ages, races, etc. Moreover, the likelihood that an offender will be discovered and convicted and the nature and extent of punishments differ greatly from person to person and activity to activity. Yet, in spite of such diversity, some common properties are shared by practically all legislation, and these properties form the subject matter of this essay.
9,613 citations
01 Jan 1967
TL;DR: In this article, the authors proposed a method to improve the quality of the information provided by the user by using the information of the user's interaction with the service provider and the user.
Abstract: За последние годы было опубликовано значительное количество научных работ, цель которых заключалась в измерении потерь благосостояния от монополий и тарифов. Результаты единодушно продемонстрировали небольшую величину издержек обычно осуждаемых экономистами практик. Это вызвало в 1962 году комментарий Манделла о том, что «До тех пор, пока не будет произведена теоретическая переоценка пригодности модели, на основе которой базировались данные работы, всегда найдется кто-то, кто сделает из этого вывод, что экономическая теория утратила свою значимость». Судя по беседам, проведенным со студентами старших курсов, много молодых экономистов действительно приходят к выводу, что тарифы и монополии не играют существенной роли. Данная точка зрения начинает появляться и в публикациях. Основываясь на этих измерениях, профессор Харви Лейбенстайн возразил: «Микроэкономическая теория сосредоточена на аллокационной эффективности за счет исключения прочих видов эффективности, которые, фактически, во многих случаях являются более существенными». Цель автора статьи заключается в том, чтобы пойти другим предложенным Манделлом путем и показать, что «инструменты, на которой основывались эти исследования» приводят к недооценке потерь благосостояния от тарифов и монополий. Экономисты-классики не беспокоили себя пустяками, когда выступали против тарифов, а Департамент юстиции не обращает внимания на мелкие проблемы, когда ведет борьбу с монополиями.
2,544 citations
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TL;DR: The applied econometrician is like a farmer who notices that the yield is somewhat higher under trees where birds roost, and he uses this as evidence that bird droppings increase yields.
Abstract: Econometricians would like to project the image of agricultural experimenters who divide a farm into a set of smaller plots of land and who select randomly the level of fertilizer to be used on each plot. If some plots are assigned a certain amount of fertilizer while others are assigned none, then the difference between the mean yield of the fertilized plots and the mean yield of the unfertilized plots is a measure of the effect of fertilizer on agricultural yields. The econometrician's humble job is only to determine if that difference is large enough to suggest a real effect of fertilizer, or is so small that it is more likely due to random variation. This image of the applied econometrician's art is grossly misleading. I would like to suggest a more accurate one. The applied econometrician is like a farmer who notices that the yield is somewhat higher under trees where birds roost, and he uses this as evidence that bird droppings increase yields. However, when he presents this finding at the annual meeting of the American Ecological Association, another farmer in the audience objects that he used the same data but came up with the conclusion that moderate amounts of shade increase yields. A bright chap in the back of the room then observes that these two hypotheses are indistinguishable, given the available data. He mentions the phrase "identification problem," which, though no one knows quite what he means, is said with such authority that it is totally convincing. The meeting reconvenes in the halls and in the bars, with heated discussion
2,228 citations
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TL;DR: In this paper, a theory of participation in illegitimate activities is developed and tested against data on variations in index crimes across states in the United States and behavioral implications are derived using the state preference approach to behavior under uncertainty.
Abstract: A theory of participation in illegitimate activities is developed and tested against data on variations in index crimes across states in the United States. Theorems and behavioral implications are derived using the state preference approach to behavior under uncertainty. The investigation deals directly with the interaction between offense and defense: crime and collective law enforcement. It indicates the existence of a deterrent effect of law-enforcement activity on all crimes and a strong positive correlation between income inequality and crimes against property. The empirical results also provide some tentative estimates of the effectiveness of law enforcement in reducing crime and the resulting social losses.
2,100 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a theory of participation in illegitimate activities is developed and tested against data on variations in index crimes across states in the United States and behavioral implications are derived using the state preference approach to behavior under uncertainty.
Abstract: A theory of participation in illegitimate activities is developed and tested against data on variations in index crimes across states in the United States. Theorems and behavioral implications are derived using the state preference approach to behavior under uncertainty. The investigation deals directly with the interaction between offense and defense: crime and collective law enforcement. It indicates the existence of a deterrent effect of law-enforcement activity on all crimes and a strong positive correlation between income inequality and crimes against property. The empirical results also provide some tentative estimates of the effectiveness of law enforcement in reducing crime and the resulting social losses.
1,871 citations