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on Law and Economics |
| By: | Christian Krekel; Marie L. Poprawe |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the effect of local crime on well-being in Germany, using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) and a novel data set constructed from official police crime statistics, covering both counties and urban districts for the time period between 1994 and 2012. We find that local area crime has a significantly negative impact on life satisfaction, makes residents worry more frequently, and worry more about crime in Germany. In particular, a 1% increase in the crime frequency ratio results in a 0.043 standard deviation decrease in life satisfaction. This effect is driven almost exclusively by violent crimes, while property crimes and other crimes have no significant impact on well-being. |
| Keywords: | Crime, well-being, Germany |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp678&r=law |
| By: | Hoang, Cung Truong; Hüschelrath, Kai; Laitenberger, Ulrich; Smuda, Florian |
| Abstract: | We empirically investigate the determinants of self-reporting under the European corporate leniency program. Applying a data set consisting of 442 firm groups that participated in 76 cartels decided by the European Commission between 2000 and 2011, we find that the probability of a firm becoming the chief witness increases with its character as repeat offender, the size of the expected basic fine, the number of countries active in one group as well as the size of the firm's share in the cartelized market. Our results have important implications for an effective prosecution of anti-cartel law infringers. -- |
| Keywords: | Competition policy,cartels,leniency,European Union |
| JEL: | L41 K21 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:14043&r=law |
| By: | Eugen Dimant (University of Paderborn) |
| Abstract: | Corruption has fierce impacts on economic and societal development and is subject to a vast range of institutional, jurisdictional, societal and economic conditions. Research indicates that corruption’s predominantly negative effects have arisen to a massive trans-border threat while creating high obstacles to sustainable and prospective development, ultimately impairing everybody’s life. This paper provides a comprehensive state-of-the-art review of existing literature on corruption and its antecedents and effects. Consequently, we bridge the gap between existing theories of different fields of research including economics, psychology, and criminology in order to draw a conclusive picture of corruption on the micro-, meso- and macro-level. |
| Keywords: | Bribery, Corruption, Development, Interdisciplinarity, Public Economics, Survey |
| JEL: | D73 H1 O17 K42 |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pdn:ciepap:79&r=law |
| By: | Elizabeth Kaletski (Ithaca College); Lanse Minkler (University of Connecticut); Nishith Prakash (University of Connecticut); Susan Randolph (University of Connecticut) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores whether constitutional provisions promote fulfillment of economic and social rights. This is accomplished by combining unique data on both enforceable law and directive principles with the Social and Economic Rights Fulfillment Index (SERF Index), which measures government fulfillment of such rights. The results indicate that there is a positive and significant correlation between enforceable law provisions and the right to health and education components of the SERF Index. The strongest relationship appears to be for the right to health component where the inclusion of an enforceable law provision on economic and social rights in the constitution is correlated with an increase in the health component by 9.55, or 13.0%, on average. These results support the idea that constitutional provisions may be one way to improve economic and social rights outcomes. |
| Keywords: | Economic and social rights, Constitutional provisions |
| JEL: | A13 B59 P46 |
| Date: | 2014–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uct:ecriwp:23&r=law |
| By: | Herlin-Karnell, Ester |
| Abstract: | The idea of justice in the EU legal setting has become a new lens for viewing the European enterprise and is as such largely inspired by the greater debate in political theory on how to imagine a just society. This paper explores the meaning and function of justice-oriented reasoning in the EU legal discourse by deconstructing it from a perspective of legitimacy and asking what justice can add to the debate on EU constitutionalism in the specific area of freedom, security and justice (AFSJ). I argue that, despite the complicated relationship between the notions of justice and legitimacy, this linkage is closely associated in an EU context and thereby relevant to the bigger question of how the EU could, and should, become a just system, and that the key to understanding this synergetic relationship is to view justice as a European process. In examining these questions I start by investigating the justice and legitimacy symbiosis in the framework of the contested notion of democracy beyond the nation state. In addition, I suggest that using justice as a tool for developing new policy fields, such as the AFSJ, will help to take it beyond a mere administrative slogan and towards a critical concept. -- |
| Keywords: | justice,EU,justice-oriented,area of freedom,security and justice,legitimacy |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:wzbrlc:spiv2014801&r=law |
| By: | Ahn, Thomas; Yelowitz, Aaron |
| Abstract: | In 2012, Connecticut became the first state to enact paid sick leave legislation. Using a difference-in-differences framework, we find the law had modest but negative effects on the labor market, particularly on the likelihood of working in the past week. |
| Keywords: | Paid sick leave, Mandated benefits, Difference-in-differences, Fringe benefits, Employment |
| JEL: | H75 I12 I18 J33 J38 |
| Date: | 2014–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:57885&r=law |
| By: | Amit Mukherjee; Ljudmilla Poznanskaya; Anjum Rosha; Olga Schwartz |
| Keywords: | Social Development - Social Accountability Legal Institutions of the Market Economy Private Sector Development - E-Business Gender - Gender and Law Law and Development - Legal Products Public Sector Development |
| Date: | 2013–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:17016&r=law |
| By: | Elisabetta Iossa (Faculty of Economics, University of Rome "Tor Vergata"); David Martimort (Paris School of Economics-EHESS) |
| Abstract: | In a public procurement setting, we discuss the desirability of completing contracts with state-contingent clauses providing for monetary compensations to the contractor when revenue shocks occur. Realized shocks are private information of the contractor and this creates agency costs of delegated service provision. Verifying the contractor’s messages on the shocks entails contracting costs that make incomplete contracts attractive, despite their higher agency costs. A public official (supervisor) has private information on contracting costs and chooses the degree of contractual incompleteness on behalf of an upper-tier public authority. As the public official may be biased towards the contractor, delegating the contractual choice to that lower-tier may result in incomplete contracts being chosen too often. Empirical predictions on the use of incomplete contracts and policy implications on the benefits of standardized contract terms are discussed. |
| Keywords: | Corruption, Incomplete Contracts, Moral Hazard, Principal-Agent-Supervisor Model, Public-Private Partnerships, Risk Allocation |
| JEL: | D23 D82 K42 L33 |
| Date: | 2014–07–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rtv:ceisrp:317&r=law |
| By: | Langenmayr, Dominika |
| Abstract: | Many countries apply lower fines to tax evading individuals when they voluntarily disclose the tax evasion they committed. I model such voluntary disclosure mechanisms theoretically and show that while such mechanisms increase the incentive to evade taxes, they nevertheless increase tax revenues net of administrative costs. I then test the effects of voluntary disclosure in two separate empirical analyses. First, I confirm that voluntary disclosure mechanisms increase tax evasion, using the introduction of the 2009 offshore voluntary disclosure program in the U.S. for identification. Second, I quantify the tax revenues of voluntary disclosures by considering how some state-level governments in Germany bought whistle-blower data from foreign bank employees, thereby increasing the detection probability and the usage of voluntary disclosures. |
| Keywords: | Tax evasion; voluntary disclosure; self-reporting |
| JEL: | H26 K42 H24 |
| Date: | 2014–08–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lmu:muenec:21359&r=law |
| By: | Joelson Oliveira Sampaio; Rodrigo de Losso da Silveira Bueno; Luciana Gross Cunha |
| Abstract: | Although there is a literature that relates the determinants of confidence in the judicial system and utilization of the judiciary, there is a gap on the causal relationship between these two variables. The purpose of this paper is to examine the causal relationship between confidence in the judicial system and utilization of the judiciary in Brazil. To address this issue, we construct measures of the extent to which the main newspapers report government corruption in their front page during the period 2010-2013 distributed by the states: Minas Gerais, Pernambuco, Rio Grande do Sul, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Distrito Federal. By examining how confidence in the judicial system affects the utilization of the judiciary, we used instrumental variable approach: IV Probit. We used the news of corruption (front page coverage of corruption) as instrumental variable. Confidence in the judicial system is the variable instrumentalized. Our results are based on four surveys conducted along 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013. We created the Brazilian Confidence in Justice Index (BCJI) as a validity argument for our confidence measure. Our results evidence that confidence in the judicial system has a positive impact on utilization of the judiciary. People who have higher levels of confidence in the judicial system have a greater propensity to seek the judiciary. We also found that there is a positive relationship between confidence in the judicial system and utilization of the judiciary for some demographic variables such as income, education, age and race. |
| Keywords: | Confidence in Justice; Institutions; Judiciary |
| JEL: | K11 K30 K40 |
| Date: | 2014–07–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spa:wpaper:2014wpecon11&r=law |
| By: | Skanderson, David (Charles River Associates); Ritter, Dubravka (Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia) |
| Abstract: | This paper discusses some of the key fair lending risks that can arise in various stages of the marketing, acquisition, and management of credit card accounts, and the analysis that can be employed to manage such risks. The Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) and its implementing Regulation B prohibit discrimination in all aspects of credit transactions and include specific provisions relating to processes that employ credit scoring models. This paper discusses some of the areas of credit card operations that may be assessed in an effort to manage the risk of noncompliance with fair lending laws and regulations. Particular attention is focused on approaches to testing for the risk of disparate impact on a prohibited basis in credit scoring models and model-intensive prescreened marketing campaigns, as well as in judgmental credit card underwriting. The paper concludes by discussing how the fair lending risks associated with credit scoring models may be managed by synchronizing compliance oversight with an institution's model governance framework. The methods discussed in this paper are also applicable to other consumer credit products that utilize credit scoring models. |
| Keywords: | ECOA; Regulation B; Discrimination; Fair lending; Consumer lending; disparate treatment; Disparate impact; Credit card; Scoring model; Model governance |
| JEL: | G21 G28 K23 |
| Date: | 2014–08–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedpdp:14-02&r=law |
| By: | Tröger, Tobias |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the evolving architecture for the prudential supervision of banks in the euro area. It is primarily concerned with the likely effectiveness of the SSM as a regime that intends to bolster financial stability in the steady state. By using insights from the political economy of bureaucracy it finds that the SSM is overly focused on sharp tools to discipline captured national supervisors and thus underincentives their top-level personnel to voluntarily contribute to rigid supervision. The success of the SSM in this regard will hinge on establishing a common supervisory culture that provides positive incentives for national supervisors. In this regard, the internal decision making structure of the ECB in supervisory matters provides some integrative elements. Yet, the complex procedures also impede swift decision making and do not solve the problem adequately. Ultimately, a careful design and animation of the ECB-defined supervisory framework and the development of inter-agency career opportunities will be critical. The ECB will become a de facto standard setter that competes with the EBA. A likely standoff in the EBA’s Board of Supervisors will lead to a growing gap in regulatory integration between SSM-participants and other EU Member States. Joining the SSM as a non-euro area Member State is unattractive because the current legal framework grants no voting rights in the ECB’s ultimate decision making body. It also does not supply a credible commitment opportunity for Member States who seek to bond to high quality supervision. -- |
| Keywords: | prudential supervision,banking union,regulatory capture,political economy of bureaucracy,Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM),European Central Bank (ECB),European Banking Authority (EBA) |
| JEL: | G21 G28 H77 K22 K23 L22 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:imfswp:73&r=law |