nep-law New Economics Papers
on Law and Economics
Issue of 2019‒12‒09
twenty papers chosen by
Eve-Angeline Lambert, Université de Lorraine


  1. Product liability when cumulative harm is incurred by both consumers and third parties By Eric Langlais; Tim Friehe; Elisabeth Schulte
  2. Financial Crime Spillovers. Does One Gain to Be Avenged? By Laure de Batz
  3. Shaking Criminal Incentives By Aoki, Yu; Koutmeridis, Theodore
  4. Larrikin youth: crime and Queensland's earning or learning reform By Beatton, Tony; Kidd, Michael P.; Machin, Stephen; Sarkar, Dipanwita
  5. The Effect of Sentencing Reform on Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Involvement with the Criminal Justice System: The Case of California's Proposition 47 By Lofstrom, Magnus; Martin, Brandon; Raphael, Steven
  6. Prohibition without Protection: Marriageable Age Law Reforms and Adolescent Fertility in Mexico By Audrey Au Yong Lyn
  7. Corporate Scandals and Regulation By Luzi Hail; Ahmed Tahoun; Clare Wang
  8. Can an Increase in the Minimum Age of Marriage Reduce Child Marriage Rates? Evidence from Mexico By Cristina Bellés-Obrero; María Lombardi
  9. American Gothic: How Chicago Economics Distorts `Consumer Welfare` in Antitrust By Mark Glick
  10. Universal Economic Plan Based Law Constitutions of Kingdom and Nations By Kavak, Mesut
  11. Which Access to Which Assets for an Effective Liberalization of the Railway Sector? By Patrice Bougette; Axel Gautier; Frédéric Marty
  12. Product Liability, Multidimensional R&D and Innovation By Lin, Ping; Zhang, Tianle
  13. Mortgage-Related Bank Penalties and Systemic Risk Among U.S. Banks By Vaclav Broz; Evzen Kocenda
  14. The Effect of E-Verify Laws on Crime By Churchill, Brandyn; Dickinson, Andrew; Mackay, Taylor; Sabia, Joseph J.
  15. Illicit financial flows: Illicit narcotics transiting West Africa By Mark Shaw
  16. Ring-fencing digital corporations: Investor reaction to the European Commission's digital tax proposals By Klein, Daniel; Ludwig, Christopher A.; Spengel, Christoph
  17. Greater US Gun Ownership, Lethality and Murder Rates: Analysis and Policy Proposals By Schiff, Maurice
  18. Reputation Effects in Repeated Audits, with Application to Insurance Fraud Deterrence By Reda Aboutajdine; Pierre Picard
  19. Building the Glass House: Transparency and Civic Capital across Italian municipalities By Giuseppe Albanese; Emma Galli; Ilde Rizzo; Carla Scaglioni
  20. Illicit financial flows: Illicit trade in counterfeit, pirated and substandard goods in Ghana By Karl Lallerstedt

  1. By: Eric Langlais; Tim Friehe; Elisabeth Schulte
    Abstract: Traditional law and economics analyses of product liability assume that expected harm is proportional to usage. This paper builds on Daughety and Reinganum (2013a, 2014) by assuming that harm increases and is convex in usage. In contrast to previous contributions, we analyze liability rules when not only consumers but also third parties incur harm. We show that the social ranking of liability rules previously established for the case in which only consumers suffer harm (strict liability dominates no liability and negligence)may be reversed if third party harm is sufficiently important.
    Keywords: Product liability; Cumulative harm; Environmental harm
    JEL: K13
    Date: 2019
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:drm:wpaper:2019-23&r=all
  2. By: Laure de Batz (Institute of Economic Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Opletalova 26, 110 00, Prague, Czech Republic; Laboratory of Excellence for Financial Regulation (LabEx-ReFi), University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (CES))
    Abstract: This paper examines the spillovers of the sanction procedures on listed companies which were victims of others’ financial regulatory breaches (i.e. regulated entities or individuals). Market manipulators can be investigated and possibly sanctioned for doing so, according to the French enforcement scheme. This research enriches past literature with a new complementary perspectivebon victims. Past work typically focused on abnormal returns primarily for investigated and/or sanctioned listed companies, as well as for plaintive firms, in a wide range of jurisdictions. The results demonstrate that victim firms suffer, on average, significant negative abnormal returns after the sanction. Naming victims hence may possibly be synonym of double punishment, as the firms already suffered during the violation period. It demonstrates a market failure where victims are not properly differentiated from wrongdoers. This article investigates the information content of such market behavior. The markets also incorporate the information content of the decision and of the parties at stake. All in all, those results plead for an anonymization of victims over the enforcement process, to protect from being sanctioned, and possibly suggest to name and shame market manipulators.
    Keywords: Sanction, victim, financial markets, event study, regulation, fraud, information and market efficiency, listed companies
    JEL: G14 G18 K42 N24
    Date: 2019–07
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fau:wpaper:wp2019_22&r=all
  3. By: Aoki, Yu (University of Aberdeen); Koutmeridis, Theodore (University of Glasgow)
    Abstract: We study criminal incentives exploiting the devastating shock of the 1995 Kobe earthquake. Evidence shows that the earthquake decreased burglaries but left other crime types unaffected. The effect stays significant even after controlling for unemployment, policing and income. We corroborate this by instrumenting damages with the distance from the earthquake epicentre. These findings survive various robustness checks under different specifications. The evidence is consistent with a simple theory of crime, value and specialization. We conclude that burglars respond to damages that devaluate their prospective takings. Yet, they cannot shift their specialization and substitute burglaries with other crime types.
    Keywords: crime, burglary, value, housing damage, specialization
    JEL: K42
    Date: 2019–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp12781&r=all
  4. By: Beatton, Tony; Kidd, Michael P.; Machin, Stephen; Sarkar, Dipanwita
    Abstract: This paper analyses the impact of the introduction of an Earning or Learning reform on youth crime in Queensland, Australia. The 2006 reform increased learning and reduced earning as school participation rose post-reform, while teen employment fell. Empirical analysis of detailed administrative data reveals that criminal offending fell significantly after enactment of the reform. For males, violent, property and drug crime all declined, while the main effect for females was a significant fall in property crime. The property and drug crime falls are underpinned by a significant incapacitation effect, with some evidence of a persistent crime reduction for young men and women at later ages. Crime reduction resulting from the reform is concentrated in significant falls in the likelihood of ever offending by marginal individuals, rather than lower criminality of recalcitrant persistent offenders.
    Keywords: Youth crime; Earning or Learning reform
    JEL: I2 K42
    Date: 2018–06–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:88287&r=all
  5. By: Lofstrom, Magnus (Public Policy Institute of California); Martin, Brandon (Public Policy Institute of California); Raphael, Steven (University of California, Berkeley)
    Abstract: We analyze the disparate effects of a recent California sentencing reform on the arrest, booking, and incarceration rates experienced by California residents from different racial and ethnic groups. In November 2014 California voters passed state proposition 47 that redefined a series of felony and "wobbler" offenses (offenses that can be charged as either a felony or misdemeanor) as straight misdemeanors, causing an immediate 15 percent decline in total drug arrests, an approximate 20 percent decline in total property crime arrests, and shifts in the composition of arrests away from felonies towards misdemeanors. Using microdata on the universe of arrests in the state in conjunction with demographic data from the American Community Survey, we document a substantial narrowing in inter-racial differences in overall arrest rates and arrest rates by offense type, with very large declines in the inter-racial arrest rate gaps for felony drug offenses. Conditional on being arrested, we see declines in bookings rates for all groups, though we find a larger decrease for white arrestees. This relatively larger decline for white arrests is largely explained by difference in the distribution of arrests across recorded offenses. Despite the widening of racial gaps in the conditional booking rate, we observe substantial declines in overall booked arrests that are larger for African Americans and Hispanics relative to whites. For some offenses (felony drug offenses), inter-racial disparities in jail booking rates narrow by nearly half. Finally, we use data from the American Community Survey to analyze change in the proportion incarcerated on any given day and how these changes vary by race and ethnicity. For these results, we present trends for the time period spanning the larger set of policy reforms that have been implemented in the state since 2011. We observe sizable declines in the overall incarceration rate for African Americans, with the largest declines observed for African America males. The one-quarter decline in total correctional populations in the state coincided with sizable narrowing in inter-racial difference in incarceration rates.
    Keywords: racial disparity, criminal justice, reform, arrests, incarceration, Proposition 47
    JEL: K40 K42
    Date: 2019–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp12722&r=all
  6. By: Audrey Au Yong Lyn
    Abstract: Between 2014 and 2017, Mexican states implemented minimum marriageable age laws that banned marriages for girls below 18. In this study, I exploit the temporal and geographical variation in law implementation to estimate the impact of these civil law reforms on child marriage rates, teenage birth rates and school attendance using a difference-in-difference methodology. The results show that states adopting minimum marriageable age laws exhibited a 37% decrease in child marriage rates and a 0.9% increase in the likelihood of girls' school attendance compared to non-adopting states. However, contrary to what is expected, I find an increase in teenage birth rates by approximately 11%. To explain these findings, I present a novel theory hypothesizing that adolescent girls used pregnancy as an alternative commitment device in place of marriage. Additional results suggest that this behavioral response is likely to be stronger among girls from lower socio-economic classes due to low-income earning potential and the subsequent need for a man's financial support. An analysis of a crosssectional, nation ally representative survey on child labor further indicate that girls could have been compelled to enter consensual unions during or post-pregnancy as marriage was no Ionger allowed, exposing them to a higher risk of domestic violence, single-motherhood and abject poverty. The results highlight the importance of considering local socio-cultural contexts before applying international policy guidelines in order to eschew unintended consequences.
    Keywords: Adolescent fertility, child marriage, minimum marriageable age laws, consensual unions
    JEL: J13 J18
    Date: 2019
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ifowps:_314&r=all
  7. By: Luzi Hail (The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania); Ahmed Tahoun (London Business School); Clare Wang (Tippie College of Business, University of Iowa)
    Abstract: Are regulatory interventions delayed reactions to market failures or can regulators proactively pre-empt corporate misbehavior? From a public interest view, we would expect `effective` regulation to ex ante mitigate agency conflicts between corporate insiders and outsiders, and prevent corporate misbehavior from occurring or quickly rectify transgressions. However, regulators are also self-interested and may be captured, uninformed, or ideological, and become less effective as a result. In this registered report, we develop a historical time series of corporate (accounting) scandals and (accounting) regulations for a panel of 26 countries from 1800 to 2015. An analysis of the lead-lag relations at both the global and individual country level yields the following insights: (i) Corporate scandals are an antecedent to regulation over long stretches of time, suggesting that regulators are typically less flexible and informed than firms. (ii) Regulation is positively related to the incidence of future scandals, suggesting that regulators are not fully effective, that explicit rules are required to identify scandalous corporate actions, or that new regulations have unintended consequences. (iii) There exist systematic differences in these lead-lag relations across countries and over time suggesting that the effectiveness of regulation is shaped by fundamental country characteristics like market development and legal tradition.
    Keywords: Accounting fraud, Corporate scandals, Capital market regulation, Economics of regulation, Law and finance, International accounting
    JEL: F30 G18 G38 K22 L51 M48 N20
    Date: 2017–12
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:thk:wpaper:71&r=all
  8. By: Cristina Bellés-Obrero; María Lombardi
    Abstract: We provide empirical evidence on the impact of raising the minimum age of marriage to 18 years old on child marriage, early motherhood, and school enrollment in Mexico. Using a difference-in-differences model that takes advantage of the staggered adoption of this reform across states, we show that banning child marriage leads to a large and statistically significant reduction in the number of registered child marriages. However, we find no effect on the share of girls enrolled in school or the rate of early fertility. We also find that in births with mothers below the age of 18, the drop in the share of formally married mothers as a consequence of the reform is neutralized by an increase in the share of mothers in informal unions. These findings suggest that in places where informal unions are common, raising the minimum age of marriage is not enough to prevent early unions, motherhood, and school dropout.
    Keywords: child marriage, marriage laws, fertility, schooling
    JEL: J12 J13 K36 I20
    Date: 2019–12
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2019_139&r=all
  9. By: Mark Glick (University of Utah)
    Abstract: Since the publication of Robert Bork`s The Antitrust Paradox, lawyers, judges, and many economists have defended `Consumer welfare` (CW) as a standard for decisions about antitrust goals and enforcement priorities. This paper argues that the CW is actually an empty concept and is an inappropriate goal for antitrust. Welfare economists concede that there is no credible measurable link between price and output and human well-being. This means that the concept of CW does not legitimate limited antitrust enforcement, nor does it justify the exclusion of other antitrust goals that require more active enforcement practices. This paper contends that antitrust policy is not welfare based at all, and that if it were, antitrust policy and enforcement would differ significantly from the Chicago School vision. Without the fiction that economists can establish that in the short run lower price and higher output measurably increases welfare more than other goals, recent defenses of the CW standard resolve down to arguments based on unsupported assumptions.
    Keywords: U.S. Consumer Welfare, Goal of Antitrust Law, New Brandeis School, Chicago School of Economics.
    JEL: K21 L40 N12
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:thk:wpaper:99&r=all
  10. By: Kavak, Mesut
    Abstract: In this work, touched on some social issues whatever the result, and a raising awareness was aimed by some new technological upgrades for the vital infrastructures of states, social order and economic plans. The main aim is one world order which has no king and accepts nations as local governance as a requirement of hierarchical order. It is completely based on economic benefits of all nations as there is no alternative to establish a healthy economic order as economic management is directly related with laws. As the important is a law exists or not, or is just or not for justice, also it encourages to develop organic laws in state institutions as it recognizes any state institution as autonomous. No state has this constitution. This work is only an offer. This building is a building which is actually dependent of economy, counts states of the world as local governances as a requirement of one world order; does not stipulate working and military service; promises that no charge for houses, energy, education, judgment, security, health care, public transport, marriage; promises removing armies limited manner, removing nuclear weapons and establishing in space but the special conditions.
    Date: 2018–06–29
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:n7y4g&r=all
  11. By: Patrice Bougette (Université Côte d'Azur; GREDEG CNRS); Axel Gautier (HEC Liège, University of Liège, LCII; CORE (UCLouvain; CESifo (Munich)); Frédéric Marty (Université Côte d'Azur, France; GREDEG CNRS)
    Abstract: In the European rail industry, the market liberalization limited to the opening of the essential facilities (the train path) to new entrants is not enough to enable competition. For an efficient and effective entry, temporary access to quasi-essential complementary assets like rolling stock, mechanical maintenance workshops, data, schedules, etc. is also required. Like in all network industries, the deregulation process faces anticompetitive practices undertaken by the incumbents or may be thwarted by their market power. Several observed anticompetitive practices involve distorted access to these quasi-essential facilities. Therefore, competition agencies must deal with litigation between the incumbent and new entrants. Most cases have been settled, resulting in commitments from the incumbent. We argue that such transitory and case-by-case remedies fail to produce favorable conditions for a secure and efficient entry. Thus, we propose to systematize such remedies through asymmetric and enduring ex-ante regulation.
    Keywords: rail, liberalization, essential facility, anticompetitive practices, asymmetric regulation
    JEL: K21 L51 L92 L98
    Date: 2019–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gre:wpaper:2019-38&r=all
  12. By: Lin, Ping; Zhang, Tianle
    Abstract: We study the effect of product liability on the incentives of product and safety innovation. We first develop a monopoly model in which a firm chooses both product novelty and safety in an innovation stage followed by a production stage. A greater product liability directly increases the marginal benefit of producing a safer product and thus increases product safety. However, as product liability increases, product novelty may increase or decrease, depending on the relative strengths of demand-shifting and cross-R&D effects identified in the model. Consequently, a greater product liability may decrease consumer welfare and thus total welfare. We extend the results to an oligopoly model with differentiated products and study the effects of competition measured by the number of firms and the degree of product substitutability. We find that equilibrium product novelty and safety decrease with the number of firms but exhibit non-monotonic relationships with the degree of product substitutability.
    Keywords: Product Liability, Safety, Novelty, Innovation Incentive
    JEL: D4 K13 L13
    Date: 2019–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:97078&r=all
  13. By: Vaclav Broz (Institute of Economic Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Opletalova 26, 110 00, Prague, Czech Republic); Evzen Kocenda (Institute of Economic Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Opletalova 26, 110 00, Prague, Czech Republic)
    Abstract: We analyze link between mortgage-related regulatory penalties levied on banks and the level of systemic risk in the U.S. banking industry. We employ a frequency decomposition of volatility spillovers to draw conclusions about system-wide risk transmission with short-, medium-, and long-term dynamics. We find that after the possibility of a penalty is first announced to the public, long-term systemic risk among banks tends to increase. In contrast, a settlement with regulatory authorities leads to a decrease in the long-term systemic risk. Our analysis is relevant both to authorities imposing penalties as well as to those in charge of financial stability.
    Keywords: Bank, financial stability, global financial crisis, mortgage, penalty, systemic risk
    JEL: C14 C58 G14 G21 G28 K41
    Date: 2019–09
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fau:wpaper:wp2019_25&r=all
  14. By: Churchill, Brandyn (Vanderbilt University); Dickinson, Andrew (University of Oregon); Mackay, Taylor (University of California, Irvine); Sabia, Joseph J. (San Diego State University)
    Abstract: E-Verify laws, which have been adopted by 23 states, require employers to verify whether new employees are eligible to legally work prior to employment. In the main, these laws are designed to reduce employment opportunities for unauthorized immigrants, reduce incentives for their immigration, and increase employment and earnings for low-skilled natives. This study explores the impact of state E-Verify laws on crime. Using agency-by-month data from the 2004 to 2015 National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS), we find that the enactment of E-Verify is associated with a 5 to 10 percent reduction in property crimes involving Hispanic arrestees, an effect driven by universal E-Verify mandates that extend to private employers. Supplemental analyses from the Current Population Survey (CPS) suggest that E-Verify-induced increases in employment of low-skilled natives of Hispanic descent, and outmigration of younger Hispanics are important channels. We find no evidence that crime was displaced to nearby U.S. jurisdictions without E-Verify or that violent crime was impacted by E-Verify mandates. Moreover, neither arrests nor labor market outcomes of white or African American adults were affected by E-Verify laws. The magnitudes of our estimates suggest that E-Verify mandates generated $491 million in social benefits of reduced crime to the United States.
    Keywords: E-Verify, immigration, crime, employment
    JEL: K14 J61
    Date: 2019–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp12798&r=all
  15. By: Mark Shaw
    Abstract: This paper explores the flow of illicit narcotics transiting West Africa. It is divided into four sections, providing an overview of the nature and scope of the illicit narcotic economy, the networks and actors involved and its development impacts, including its resulting illicit financial flows, the movement and impact of those financial flows, both to buy protection and to invest drug profits from West Africa, and finally, it provides concluding remarks that could inform future policy action. The paper is based on a review of the available secondary literature and interviews, and focuses on the cocaine trade due to the preponderance of available information and data compared to other types of drug trafficking. Comparisons or distinctions are also drawn between other illicit narcotics and emerging trends are highlighted where credible evidence is available.
    Keywords: cocaine trafficking, corruption, criminal markets, development, illicit financial flows (IFFs), illicit narcotics, illicit trade, informal economy, political instability, protection payments, West Africa
    JEL: F63 K42 O17 O55 Q01
    Date: 2019–12–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:dcdaaa:64-en&r=all
  16. By: Klein, Daniel; Ludwig, Christopher A.; Spengel, Christoph
    Abstract: We study the effect of digital tax measures on firm value. By employing an event study methodology, we analyze investor reaction to the European Commission's proposals on the taxation of digital corporations. Examining the stock returns of potentially affected corporations surrounding the draft directives' release, we find a significant abnormal capital market reaction of -0.692 percentage points. The investor reaction is more pronounced for firms that engage more actively in tax avoidance, have a higher profit shifting potential, and for those with higher exposure to the EU. The market value of digital and innovative corporations decreased by at least 52 billion euro in excess of the regular market movement during the event window. Overall, our study reveals that expectations about ringfencing digital tax measures impact firm values.
    Keywords: digital taxation,corporate tax,digital economy,event study
    JEL: H25 H26 K34 G14
    Date: 2019
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:19050&r=all
  17. By: Schiff, Maurice (World Bank)
    Abstract: This paper examines the US gun-related murder (GM) rate and places it in an international context. The US GM rate is 27 times the average rate for 22 other developed countries (ODC). Its gun ownership rate is 5.4 times that of ODC and the murder rate per gun is 5 times that of ODC. Thus, as is done in the paper, an effective reduction of the US GM rate requires an analysis of both the high gun ownership rate and the high murder rate per gun. The paper examines about fifteen gun-related policy reforms – their impact, cost and structure for maximum benefit – and other policies affecting the GM rate. Among the latter is immigration policy and its impact on violent crime where the claims of the pro- and anti-immigration groups are examined. The paper also looks at the GM impact of programs that provide alternative life pursuits for young men at risk. It further presents a number of policy implications and some new proposals designed to reduce the GM rate. Four appendices provide i) results from two recent opinion polls on gun-policy reforms, ii) a detailed analysis of the relationship between gun ownership and the GM rate, iii) calculations of gun buyback costs, and iv) a correction of results in the literature on the Brady Bill's impact on gun ownership.
    Keywords: US vs. other developed countries' gun-related murder rate, gun ownership and lethality, gun-control policies, immigration, new policy proposals
    JEL: F22 H20 K14
    Date: 2019–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp12784&r=all
  18. By: Reda Aboutajdine (X-DEP-ECO - Département d'Économie de l'École Polytechnique - X - École polytechnique, CREST - Centre de Recherche en Économie et Statistique - ENSAI - Ecole Nationale de la Statistique et de l'Analyse de l'Information [Bruz] - X - École polytechnique - ENSAE ParisTech - École Nationale de la Statistique et de l'Administration Économique - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Pierre Picard (X-DEP-ECO - Département d'Économie de l'École Polytechnique - X - École polytechnique, CREST - Centre de Recherche en Économie et Statistique - ENSAI - Ecole Nationale de la Statistique et de l'Analyse de l'Information [Bruz] - X - École polytechnique - ENSAE ParisTech - École Nationale de la Statistique et de l'Administration Économique - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)
    Abstract: In principal-agent problems, the repetition of interactions in a dynamic setting may alter the equilibrium outcomes. In insurance fraud, the frequency of auditor-auditee interactions is higher when there is collusion between policyholders and service providers (e.g., car repairers, health care providers...). The same service provider usually handles claims filed by many policyholders affiliated to the same insurer, and thus the insurer-service provider interactions are repeated with reputation effects. We analyze this issue in a repeated game where the insurer may potentially face a dishonest service provider who colludes with policyholders. The insurer has beliefs about the type (honest or dishonest) of the service provider and she may verify the truthfulness of the claim through costly audits. The reputation of the service provider corresponds to these beliefs and changes over time, and misbehaving deteriorates this reputation. In the end, it may lead to a breach of contract and thus represents a threat that may deter from defrauding. We show that, at early periods, the insurer audits agents who would not be monitored in a static setting because their reputation is good enough. Corresponding dishonest agents who slipped under the radar and have an initially good reputation do not defraud systematically at early periods, as opposed to the instantaneous game. In addition, auditing efforts for medium reputations are lower as dishonest agents want to preserve the possibility of defrauding later. Both aspects corresponds to a reputation-based deterrence mechanism, where the fear of deteriorating one's reputation acts as a discipline device for dishonest service providers.
    Keywords: Deterrence,Learning,Insurance fraud,Optimal auditing,Reputation
    Date: 2019–11–20
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-02373206&r=all
  19. By: Giuseppe Albanese (Banca d'Italia, sede di Catanzaro); Emma Galli (Università di Roma "La Sapienza"); Ilde Rizzo (Università di Catania); Carla Scaglioni (Università Mediterranea di Reggio Calabria)
    Abstract: Our paper explores one particular channel through which social capital affects political outcomes, that is transparency. Citizens who share social values are more inclined to get information via transparency and monitor public activity. Thus, we first investigate whether social capital affects the transparency of public action, using a new dimension of the quality of institutions that has not investigated so far; then, we verify if transparency affects the relationship between social capital and the accountability of politicians. We find that civic capital positively affects transparency, suggesting that the quality of the social environment provides an incentive for public agents to become more transparent and therefore more accountable. Our results are robust to different samples and endogeneity concerns.
    Keywords: Transparency, civic capital, political accountability, local governments
    JEL: K2 K4 H3 Z1
    Date: 2019–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipu:wpaper:84&r=all
  20. By: Karl Lallerstedt
    Abstract: Illicit trade in goods that displace normally legal goods is an extensive global problem, which carries considerable development risks and losses for developing countries. Focusing on pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals and consumer goods (which in itself consists of a broad range of goods), this case study reviews the example of Ghana to illustrate this problem, although it is a challenge afflicting all West African countries.This paper highlights the magnitude and significance of the problem. It also reveals the actors involved, with a view to identify the drivers and interests behind the trade, and their developmental impacts. Although the case study focuses primarily on three kinds of goods in a single country, the analysis further aims to identify common causal factors that can be extrapolated across the counterfeit, pirated and substandard trade in the wider region with a view to inform the development of prospective policy recommendations.
    Keywords: agrochemicals, consumer goods, corruption, counterfeits, development, Ghana, illicit financial flows (IFFs), illicit trade, medicines, pirated goods, substandard goods, trade routes, West Africa
    JEL: F63 K42 O17 O55 Q01
    Date: 2019–12–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:dcdaaa:65-en&r=all

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