During the period when capital punishment was regularly used in England and Wales, the risk of self-execution from suicide, when suspected of murder, greatly dominated the risk of death at the hands of the state. Over the period 1900-1949, even with four years' data missing, there were 1,540...

Economists have generally supposed that certainty and severity of punishment deter crime and have been surprised whenever this is not confirmed by empirical word. This paper gives a number of explanations, consistent with economic theory, as to why there need not be a contradiction here. The...

The full implications of the problem of the death of addicts have been ignored in the economic analysis of policy toward drugs. This article argues that drug dealers can, in theory, play an important role in sustaining the lives of addicts. This needs to be taken into account in policy...