This text is designed for use in a course on the economics of crime in a variety of settings. Assuming only a previous course in basic microeconomics, this innovative book is strongly linked to the new theoretical and empirical journal literature. Showing the power of microeconomics in action, Yezer covers a wide array of topics. There are chapters on the following topics: benefit-cost and the imprisonment decision, enforcement games, juvenile crime, private enforcement, economics of 3 strikes law, broken windows strategies, police profiling, and crime in developing countries. There are also separate chapters on guns, drugs, and capital punishment. Timely boxed examples are found throughout. Problems at the end of each chapter allow students to reinforce their microeconomics skills and to gain insight into the way they can be applied to case examples.
Introduction Part I: Fundamental Economics of Crime and Enforcement 1. The Economic Rationale for the Criminal Law 2. Benefit/Cost Analysis of the Enforcement Decision 3. Measuring the Amount and Cost of Crime Part II: Applying Economic Theory to Crime 4. The Market for "Victimless" Crime 5. The Market for Crime with Victims 6. Risk Preferences and the Supply of Offenses 7. The State Preference Model and the Economics of Tax Evasion 8. Modeling Neighborhood Crime and Self-Enforcement 9. Enforcement Games Part III: Use of Statistical Analysis in Research on Crime 10. Statistical Problems in Testing Models of Crime 11. Implicit Market Measures of the Benefits of Crime Control Part IV: Economics of Specific Enforcement Issues 12. Economics of Incarceration: Deterrence and Incapacitation 13. Economics of Three-Strikes Legislation 14. Juvenile Crime 15. Neighborhood Gangs 16. Economic Effects of Private Enforcement 17. The Broken Windows Hypothesis 18. Crime and Economic Development 19. Guns and Crime 20. Drugs and Crime 21. Economics of Profiling 22. Deterrence and Capital Punishment
Biography
Anthony Yezer is Professor of Economics at George Washington University where he directs the Center for Economic Research.
