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...

Die Ökonomik der Kriminalität und die darauf aufbauende Ökonomik der Sicherheit konzentrieren sich vorwiegend auf Strafen als Mittel der Politik. Dies ist aus verschiedenen Gründen unklug. Zum einen gibt es eine Reihe von Bedingungen, unter denen Bestrafung nicht wirkt oder die Zahl der...

Social incentives like employee awards are widespread in the corporate sector and may be important instruments for solving agency problems. To date, we have little understanding of their effect on behavior. Unique panel data from the call center of a Fortune 500 financial services provider allow...

Research rankings based on publications and citations today dominate governance of academia. Yet they have unintended side effects on individual scholars and academic institutions and can be counterproductive. They induce a substitution of the taste for science by a taste for publication. We...

Awards in the form of orders, medals, decorations and titles are ubiquitous in monarchies and republics, private organizations, not-for-profit and profit-oriented firms. Nevertheless, economists have disregarded this kind of non-material extrinsic incentive. The demand for awards relies on an...