double dividend in that it reduces both minor offenses and more severe crime. We develop a model of criminal subcultures in … attractive for some people who would otherwise commit more severe crime. If social status is sufficiently important in criminal … subcultures, zero-tolerance reduces crime across the board …

can be tricky, this paper uses the crime strategic model (inspection game) proposed by Tsebelis. This model shows that any … attempts to increase the severity of punishment will alter the payoff of the individuals involved, leaving unchanged the … frequency of violation at equilibrium. This result is misleading: payoffs are not independent and the crime game can not be …

This paper argues that the “Economics of Crime” concentrates too much on punishment as a policy to fight crime, which … is unwise for several reasons. There are important instances in which punishment simply cannot reduce crime. Several … feasible alternatives to punishment exist, such as offering positive incentives or handing out awards for law abiding behavior …

Empirical evidence reveals that unemployment tends to increase property crime but that it has no effect on violent … crime. To explain these facts, we examine a model of criminal gangs and suggest that there is a substitution effect between … property crime and violent crime at work. In the model, non-monetary valuation of gang membership is private knowledge. Thus …

This paper analyzes private precautions against crime when the value of the property to be protected is private … information. Within a framework in which potential criminals can choose between various crime opportunities, we establish that …