Buonanno, Paolo; Montolio, Daniel; Vanin, Paolo - In: Journal of Law and Economics 52 (2009) 1, pp. 145-170
We investigate the effects of civic norms and associational networks on crime rates. Civic norms may attach guilt and shame to criminal behavior, thus increasing its opportunity cost. Associational networks may increase returns to noncriminal activities and raise detection probabilities, but...