We argue that openness to foreign investment can have differential effects on corruption, even within the same country and under the exact same domestic institutions over time. Our theoretical approach departs from standard political economy by attributing corruption motives to firms as well as...

This paper analyzes how private decisions and public policies are shaped by personal and societal preferences (values), material or other explicit incentives (laws) and social sanctions or rewards (norms). It first examines how honor, stigma and social norms arise from individuals’ behaviors...

In this paper, we analyze the effect of the criminal justice system on juvenile recidivism. Using a unique sample of German inmates, we are able to disentangle the selection into criminal and juvenile law from the subsequent recidivism decision of the inmate. We base our identification strategy...

The main purpose of this paper is to model the role of the narco-insurgency in the structure and functioning of the colombian cocaine market. The narco-insurgency gets important profits from this market by controlling the land for producing coca-leaf, and the production of inputs for trading...

In this paper we analyze the temporal profile of crime in the urban context of Barcelona (Spain) for the period 2007-2011 using a unique micro dataset with police reported crime. Additionally, we assess the temporal effect that a leisure activity clearly bounded in time, namely the matches...

This study explains the emergence of the Sicilian mafia in the XIX century as the product of the interaction between natural resource abundance and weak institutions. We advance the hypothesis that the mafia emerged after the collapse of the Bourbon Kingdom in a context characterized by a severe...

There is a long and detailed history of attempts to understand what causes crime. One of the most prominent strands of this literature has sought to better understand the relationship between economic conditions and crime. Following Becker (1968), the economic argument is that in an attempt to...

This study explains the emergence of the Sicilian mafia in the XIX century as the product of the interaction between natural resource abundance and weak institutions. We advance the hypothesis that the mafia emerged after the collapse of the Bourbon Kingdom in a context characterized by a severe...

I analyze the demand side impacts of a supply side intervention into the market for illegal drugs in what has been described as America's largest open air drug market. Beginning in 2018, the Pennsylvania Attorney General's office and the Philadelphia Police Department engaged in an ambitious...

This article discusses the relationships between immigration, unemployment, and crime. Venezuelan social and economic instability has led to an exodus of Venezuelan citizens to Colombian cities in recent years. Cali, the third most important city in Colombia, is aware of this phenomenon, as it...