ECON 4910 - Crime Economics
This course provides an introduction to the study of crime and crime-control policies using standard economic techniques. Criminal behavior is considered the result of rational decisions made by individuals seeking to maximize their well-being within the constraints of society. The focus is on incentives for individuals to commit crimes and how those incentives can be changed by public policy. Topics include the costs of crime to society, drug control, gun control, non-violent and violent crime, gang-related crimes, punishment, incarceration, and deterrence.
| syllabus.pdf |
Reading Packet:
Econofact (first day of class)
Introduction, the Becker model
Reading Empirical Papers
Imprisonment
The Death Penalty
Listening for 9/26
Race and Crime
Private Crime Deterrence, Gun Ownership
Econofact (first day of class)
Introduction, the Becker model
Reading Empirical Papers
- The reality of reality television: Does reality TV influence local crime rates?
- The impact of 1998 Massachusetts gun laws on suicide: A synthetic control approach
Imprisonment
The Death Penalty
- How Punishment Severity Affects Jury Verdicts: Evidence from Two Natural Experiments
- Estimating the Impact of the Death Penalty on Murder
Listening for 9/26
Race and Crime
- Racial Discrimination Among NBA Referees
- Does "Ban the Box" Help or Hurt Low-Skilled Workers? Statistical Discrimination and Employment Outcomes When Criminal Histories are Hidden
- Interracial face-to-face crimes and the socioeconomics of neighborhoods: Evidence from policing records
Private Crime Deterrence, Gun Ownership
- Right-to-Carry Laws and Violent Crime: A Comprehensive Assessment Using Panel Data and a State-Level Synthetic Control Analysis
- Shooting Down the More Guns, Less Crime Hypothesis
- Looking Down the Barrel of a Loaded Gun: The Effect of Mandatory Handgun Purchase Delays on Homicide and Suicide
- The Short-Term and Localized Effect of Gun Shows: Evidence from California and Texas
