Economics 448W: Seminar in the Economics of Crime
Mr. Easton
Spring 2016
Course Outline and Reading List
Prerequisites: Economics 301 or 201
This course will cover a limited number of topics in the economics of crime. It will
describe some of the economic theories of crime and punishment and focus on those that
have empirical content. Students will be expected to write several short essays and a
longer paper.
Grading: Students will write one term paper 50% and/or shorter papers as well as acting
as a critic of colleagues’ papers 50%. The term paper will be developed in consultation
with the instructor. Students will present their papers and respond to comments by their
peers before submitting the final copy.
Required Text: Stephen Easton, Hilary Furness and Paul Brantingham “The Cost of
Crime in Canada - 2014” (October, 2014). It can be downloaded at:
http://www.fraserinstitute.org/research/cost-crime-canada-2014-report
Office Hours: Wednesday 10:30-12:00 and by appointment
To get you started thinking about why we study crime read Easton, Furness and
Brantingham “The Cost of Crime in Canada” Decide if you have an area of interest:
Measuring the cost of crime, the cost of the judicial system, the cost of policing, the cost
of organized crime, the cost of prisons and jails, etc. In these cases think broadly and try
to do a little reading of the academic literature to catch your interest. An excellent source
of articles you might peruse is ECONLIT in our library:
http://cufts2.lib.sfu.ca/CRDB4/BVAS/resource/5571
Here is an abridged copy of my reading list for the course “The Economics of
Crime” (Econ 382). You should use it to get started on some of these topics if they
interest you. These articles are to give ideas for your own paper. There are of
course many other possible topics.
Overview
Becker, Gary S. “III. Crime and Punishment” in “Nobel Lecture: The Economic Way of
Looking at Behavior” Journal of Political Economy 101 (3) (June 1993): 385-405
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DiIulio, John. “Help Wanted: Economists, Crime and Public Policy” Journal of
Economic Perspectives Volume 10, Issue 1 (Winter, 1996): 3-24.
The Basic Data of Crime
How to access and understand Canadian crime data
http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~wcjlen/WCJ/stats/canada_stats.html
provides a good if slightly dated listing of Canadian data.
Gannon, Marie. “Crime Statistics in Canada, 2005”, Juristat (July 2006) Statistics Canada
Catalogue no. 85-002-XIE, Vol. 26, no. 4
̀
The Consequences of Crime
Chapter 2: “What are the Costs of Crime?” in Czabanski, J. (2008). Estimates of the cost
of crime: History, methodologies, and implications. Warszawa, Poland: Springer-Varlag
Berlin Heidelberg
http://www.springerlink.com/content/978-3-540-698036/#section=161485&page=3&locus=100
Anderson, David A. “The Aggregate Burden of Crime” Journal of Law and Economics
Vol XLII (Oct. 1999): 611-642 gives similar issues related to the US.
Brand, S. & Price, R. (2000). The economic and social costs of crime. Home Office
Research Study 217(NA), p. 1-100. Retrieved from,
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs/hors217.pdf
Cohen, M.A. (1988). Pain, suffering and jury awards: A study of the cost of crime to
victims. Law and Society Review 22(3), 537-555.
Cohen, M.A. (1990). A note on the cost of crime to victims. Urban Studies, 27(6), p.
139-146.
Cohen, M.A. (2000). Measuring the costs and benefits of crime and justice. Retrieved
from http://www.ncjrs.gov/criminal_justice2000/vol_4/04f.pdf
Cohen, M.A., Miller, T.R, & Rossman, S.B. (1994). The costs and consequences of
violent crime in the United States. In A.J. Reiss Jr. & J.A. Roth (Eds). Understanding
and preventing violence – Volume 4 (67-166). Washington D.C.: National Academy
Press
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Cohen, M.A., Miller, T.R., & Rossman, S.B. (1996). Data watch: Victim costs of violent
crime and resulting injuries. Retrieved from,
http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/reprint/12/4/186.pdf
Czabanski, J. (2008). Estimates of the cost of crime: History, methodologies, and
implications. Warszawa, Poland: Springer-Varlag Berlin Heidelberg
http://www.springerlink.com/content/qn7w24q847r73025/fulltext.pdf
Miller, T.R., Cohen, M.A., & Rossman, S.B. (1993). Data watch. Victim costs of violent
crime and resulting injuries. Retrieved from,
http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/reprint/12/4/186.pdf
Miller, T.R., Cohen, M.A., & Wiersema (1996). Victim costs and consequences: A new
look. Retrieved from, http://www.ncjrs.gov/App/Publications/Abstract.aspx?id=155282
Economic Theories of Crime and their Implications
Robert Cooter and Thomas Ulen, Law and Economics, 3rd edition (Addison Wesley
Longman: 2000): 427-454. Any edition will do to get the general ideas. The third edition
is available for download at: http://works.bepress.com/robert_cooter/56/
Becker, Gary S. “Crime and Punishment: An Economic Approach” Journal of Political
Economy Volume 76, Issue 2 (March-April, 1968): 169-217.
Thomas Schelling, "Economics and Criminal Enterprise," The Public Interest, No.
7, Spring 1967.
Levitt, Stephen D. “Using Election Cycle in Police Hiring to Estimate the Effect of
Police on Crime” American Economic Review Volume 87, Number 3 (June, 1997): 270290.
Freeman, Richard B. “Why Do So Many Young American Men Commit Crimes and
What Might We Do About It?” Journal of Economic Perspectives Volume 10, Issue 1
(Winter, 1996): 25-42.
John J. Donohue III, Steven D. Levitt. “The Impact of Legalized Abortion on Crime.”
Quarterly Journal of Economics, Volume 116, Number 2 (May 1, 2001), pp. 379-420.
Ehrlich, I. “Crime, Punishment, and the Market for Offenses” The Journal of Economic
Perspectives Volume 10, Issue 1 (Winter 1996): 43-67. A summary of issues by one of
the main players.
Block, M. K. and J. M. Heineke, “A Labor Theoretic Analysis of the Criminal Choice”
American Economic Review Volume 65, Issue 3 (June, 1975): 314-25.
Some European data.
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Entorf, Horst and Hannes Spengler, “Socioeconomic and Demographic Factors of Crime
in Germany: Evidence from Panel Data of German States” International Review of Law
and Economics 20 (2000): 75 - 106.
The Capital Punishment Debate
Avio, Kenneth L. “Capital Punishment in Canada: A Time-series Analysis of the
Deterrent Hypothesis” Canadian Journal of Economics 12(4) November 1979: 647-676
Layson, Stephen. “Homicide and Deterrence: Another View of the Canadian Time Series
Evidence” Canadian Journal of Economics 16(1) February 1983: 52-73
Wolpin, Kenneth. “Capital punishment and homicide in England: a summary of results.”
American Economic Review 68 (May 1978), 422-7.
Some reflections by the scholar who started the modern debate about capital punishment.
Ehrlich, Isaac. “Capital Punishment and Deterrence: Further Thoughts and Additional
Evidence” Journal of Political Economy Volume 85, Issue 4 (August, 1977): 741-88.
Levitt, S. D. “Juvenile Crime and Punishment” Journal of Political Economy 106,
(1998):1156–1185.
Kessler, Daniel and Steven D. Levitt, “Using Sentence Enhancements to Distinguish
Between Deterrence and Incapacitation”, Journal of Law and Economics, vol. XLII
(April 1999): 343-363.
Prisons
Easton, Stephen T. ed., Privatizing Correctional Services (Fraser Institute, 2000) Read it
all but especially chapters by Easton, Thomas and Logan. HV 9506 P75 1998
“Paradise Lost & Regained: Crime in Canada and Around the World” Fraser Forum
(March 2001): 5-7, 10.
Ken Avio, “The Economics of Prisons” European Journal of Law and Economics 6:143198 (1998)
Avio, Kenneth, L. (1991). “On Private Prisons: an Economic Analysis of the Model
Contract and Model Statute for Private Incarceration.” New England Journal on Criminal
and Civil Confinement. 17, 265–300.
Kelly Bedard and, Eric Helland. “The location of women’s prisons and the deterrence
effect of “harder” time” International Review of Law and Economics 24 (2004) 147–167
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Gendreau, Paul, Tracy Little, and Claire Goggin. November 1996. “A Meta-Analysis of
the Predictors of Adult Offender Recidivism: What Works,” Criminology, Vol. 34,
Number 4, pages 575-608.
Andrews, D.A., Ivan Zinger, Robert D. Hoge, James Bonta, Paul Gendreau, and Francis
T. Cullen. August 1990. “Does Correctional Treatment Work? A clinically relevant and
psychologically informed meta-analysis,” Criminology, Vol. 28, No. 3, pages 369-404.
Tonry, Michael and Joan Petersilia, Prisons, University of Chicago Press, Vol. 26, 1999.
(chapters by Blumstein and Beck; Caplow and Simon, Hagan and Dinovitzer, and Gaes
et al.)
The Underground Economy and the Prohibition of Alcohol and Drugs
Stephen T. Easton and Niels Veldhuis “The Underground Economy”
Lippert, Owen ed. The Underground Economy: Global Evidence of Its Size and Impact
(Fraser Institute, 1997) pp.328
Mark Thornton, “Alcohol Prohibition was a Failure”, Policy Analysis, Cato Policy
Analysis No. 157 (July 17,1991)
Clark Warburton, The Economic Results of Prohibition (New York: Columbia University
Press, 1932)
Gray, James Henry, Booze: the Impact of Whisky on the Prairie West. (Toronto:
Macmillan of Canada, 1972). 243 pp. HV 5306 G7
Kyvig, David E., ed. Law Alcohol and Order: Perspectives on National Prohibition
(Westport: Greenwood Press, 1985) see chapters 8, 9, 11.
A special focus on BC marijuana issues:
Stephen T. Easton, “Marijuana Growth in British Columbia” (Fraser Institute, 2004)
Organized Crime
A Theory of Organized Crime
Kugler, M., Verdier, T., and Zenou, Y. “Organized crime, corruption and punishment”
Journal of Public Economics 89 (2005): 1639-1663. (Read the first few pages to get a
sense of what the analysis looks like. Do not worry about the technical stuff.)
Thomas Schelling, "Economic Analysis of Organized Crime," Appendix D,
Organized Crime, Task Force on Organized Crime, The President's Commission
on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice, U.S. Government Printing
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Office, 1967, 114-126. (The first economic look at organized crime.)
Anderson, Annelise Graebner. The Business of Organized Crime (Stanford: Hoover
Institution Press, 1979) HV 6791 A76
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. The Economics of crime and
punishment: a conference sponsored by American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy
Research. (Washington: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, 1973)
HV 6791 E27
Chettleburgh, Michael. Title Young thugs : inside the dangerous world of Canadian
street gangs Published Toronto : HarperCollins, c2007. HV 6439 C3 C43 2007
A Theory of Optimal Networks
Easton, S. T. and Karaivanov, A. “Understanding Optimal Criminal Networks”, Global
Crime, Volume 10, Issue 1 & 2 (February 2009): 41 – 65.
Gun Control
Gary Mauser, “Gun Control is Not Crime Control” (Fraser Institute, 1996, update 1999)
Mauser, Gary A. and Dennis Maki “An Evaluation of the 1977 Canadian Firearm
Legislation: Robbery Involving a Firearm” Applied Economics. March 2003; 35(4): 42336.
Lott, John R., Jr. More Guns, Less Crime: Understanding Crime and Gun-control Laws
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998) 225 pp. KF 3941 L68 1998
Rathjen, Heidi. December 6: from the Montreal massacre to gun control: the inside story
(Toronto: M&S, 1999) 211 pp. HV 7439 C3 R37 1999
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Other topics of interest might include things like:
Is suicide a form of homicide? Should it be included in our homicide data? How might
we know whether this is an appropriate way to characterize a “crime”?
Do immigrants cause crime? (The Trump hypothesis!)
What is profiling and is it sensible and/or racist?
Does incarceration work? What is the relationship between prison, recidivism and legal
work?
The Drug problem. What are the consequences of legalizing marijuana in Canada? What
are the consequences of legalizing all drugs in Canada? What is the nature of the drug
trade internationally?
Does deterrence work?
Why is the crime rate falling in North America but not elsewhere? Or is it?
A few Sources of Data:
Juristat is Statistics Canada’s magazine that covers various topics of interest to those
interested in crime. It is primarily a vehicle for characterizing various data series. It has
remarkably little analysis.
Other sources for Canadian data include the database CANSIM
(http://cufts2.lib.sfu.ca/CRDB/BVAS/resource/5602)
The US BJS (Bureau of Justice Statistics):
http://bjs.gov/
http://www.albany.edu/sourcebook/
Australia:
http://www.aic.gov.au/statistics.html
European and other major country sites:
http://www.europeansourcebook.org/links.htm
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