We estimate the degree to which individual police officers practice racial discrimination. Using a bunching estimation design and data from Florida Highway Patrol, we show that minorities are less likely receive discount on their speeding tickets than White drivers. Disaggregating this difference officer, 42 percent of then apply our officer- level discrimination measures various policy-relevan...

We experimentally investigate the extent to which social observability of one’s actions and the possibility of social non-monetary judgment affect the decision to engage in rule breaking behavior. We consider three rule breaking scenarios — theft, bribery and embezzlement — in the absence of any formal enforcement mechanism. By involving a student sample characterized by cultural heterogeneity ...

This article examines the effects of the federal Prison Industry Enhancement Certificate Program (PIE) on unemployment duration, length of employment, and earnings of inmates released between 1996 and 2001 across 5 states. This is the first nationally representative dataset of PIE and this is the first comprehensive study to analyze the effect of this program on labor market outcomes of the inm...

We revisit a framework of con‡ict in a canonic open economy model to examine appropriate policy responses. We derive further implications of the framework, we link them to other results in the literature, and we explore the scope and limits of the analogy between policy analysis in a con‡ict economy and the policy analysis under distortions o¤ered by the traditional trade literature. We rank al...

Using geographic variation in local and state smoke-free bar laws in the US, we observe an increase in fatal accidents involving alcohol following bans on smoking in bars that is not observed in places without bans. Although an increased accident risk might seem surprising at first, two strands of literature on consumer behavior suggest potential explanations — smokers driving longer distances ...

Law enforcement discrimination studies are usually qualified by selection concerns regarding which encounters transpire between individuals and police. This paper overcomes these problems by examining automobile crash investigations by a State Police Department. Because officers are dispatched to investigate crashes on the basis of factors unrelated to driver race, these interactions are effect...

Changes in US Immigration laws that occurred during the mid 1980s to the late 1990s led to a sharp increase in criminal deportations. Using panel data for a sample of 38 developed and developing countries, I provide evidence for a statistically significantly positive causal relationship between increases in the numbers of criminal deportees and increases in intentional homicide rates. The magni...

This paper uses self-reported data on victimization, subjective well being and ideology for a panel of individuals living in six Argentine cities. While no relationship is found between happiness and victimization experiences, a correlation is documented, however, between victimization experience and changes in ideological positions. Specifically, individuals who are the victims of crime are su...

According to economists, severe legal sanctions deter violations of the law. According to legal scholars, people may obey law backed by mild sanctions because of norm-activation. We experimentally investigate the effects of mild and severe legal sanctions in the provision of public goods. The results show that severe sanctions almost perfectly deter free-riding. However, people also obey law ba...

Economic and rent-seeking outcomes are determined jointly in a dynamic general equilibrium model of corruption, public spending and growth. In an economy with government intervention and capital accumulation, state-appointed bureaucrats are responsible for providing public goods, which contribute to productive efficiency. Corruption arises because of an opportunity for bureaucrats to appropriat...