Lessons from the Economics of Crime

Cook, Philip J.; Machin, Stephen J.; Marie, Olivier; Mastrobuoni, Giovanni

Lessons from the Economics of Crime

'Lessons from the Economics of Crime' in Lessons from the Economics of Crime, edited by P.J. Cook, S.J. Machin, O. Marie, and G. Mastrobuoni, MIT Press, Forthcoming

14 Pages Posted: 31 Jul 2012

See all articles by Philip J. Cook

Philip J. Cook

Duke University - Sanford School of Public Policy; Duke University, Dept. of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Stephen J. Machin

London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) - Centre for Economic Performance (CEP); London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) - Department of Economics

Giovanni Mastrobuoni

University of Turin - Collegio Carlo Alberto; University of Essex - Department of Economics; IZA

Date Written: July 29, 2012

Abstract

What have the economists contributed to the study of criminal behavior and crime control? In what follows, to motivate and describe the contributions to this edited volume, we discuss three domains:

• A normative framework for evaluating criminal law and crime prevention, and the application of sophisticated quantitative methods to analyze the causes of crime and the effects of crime-control measures in this framework; • The conception of criminal behavior as individual choice, influenced by perceived consequences; • The aggregation of individual choices to a systems framework for understanding crime rates and patterns.

The papers in this volume are informed by and contribute to all of these domains.

Keywords: economics of crime

JEL Classification: K42

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Cook, Philip J. and Machin, Stephen J. and Marie, Olivier and Mastrobuoni, Giovanni, Lessons from the Economics of Crime (July 29, 2012). 'Lessons from the Economics of Crime' in Lessons from the Economics of Crime, edited by P.J. Cook, S.J. Machin, O. Marie, and G. Mastrobuoni, MIT Press, Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2119606