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on Law and Economics |
| By: | Luca, Davide; Proietti, Paola |
| Abstract: | The paper investigates the link between organized crime and Italy’s publicly funded asylum seekers’ reception facilities. We gather detailed municipal-level data on the location of mafia activities and Protection System for Asylum Seekers and Refugees (SPRAR)-type reception centres, and provide evidence of how the local presence of mafia increases the likelihood of hosting reception facilities. Statistical evidence and in-depth expert interviews suggest that organized crime correlates with less transparent tendering procedures in the set-up of such centres, while hosting activities increase after local governments are infiltrated by mafias. Overall, results underscore the importance of measures aimed at contrasting organized crime, especially at times of ‘crises’ when public policy is subject to ‘states of exception’. |
| Keywords: | asylum seekers; mafia infiltration; organized crime; public procurement; reception centres |
| JEL: | D73 H57 K42 R23 |
| Date: | 2022–04–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:115174&r= |
| By: | Akbulut-Yuksel, Mevlude (Dalhousie University); Mocan, Naci (Louisiana State University); Tumen, Semih (TED University); Turan, Belgi (TOBB University of Economy and Technology) |
| Abstract: | We analyze the impact on crime of 3.7 million refugees who entered and stayed in Turkey as a result of the civil war in Syria. Using a novel administrative data source on the flow of offense records to prosecutors' offices in 81 provinces of the country each year, and utilizing the staggered movement of refugees across provinces over time, we estimate instrumental variables models that address potential endogeneity of the number of refugees and their location, and find that an increase in the number of refugees leads to more crime. We estimate that the influx of refugees between 2012 and 2016 generated additional 75,000 to 150,000 crimes per year, although it is not possible to identify the distribution of these crimes between refugees and natives. Additional analyses reveal that low-educated native population has a separate, but smaller, effect on crime. We also highlight the pitfalls of employing incorrect empirical procedures and using poor proxies of criminal activity which produce the wrong inference about the refugee-crime relationship. Our results underline the need to quickly strengthen the social safety systems, to take actions to dampen the impact on the labor market, and to provide support to the criminal justice system in order to mitigate the repercussions of massive influx of individuals into a country, and to counter the social and political backlash that typically emerges in the wake of such large-scale population movements. |
| Keywords: | refugees, crime, instrumental variables, measurement of crime |
| JEL: | J08 J2 J3 J38 J61 J68 K14 K37 K42 |
| Date: | 2022–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15335&r= |
| By: | Bosio, Erica; Djankov, Simeon; Glaeser, Edward; Shleifer, Andrei |
| Abstract: | We examine a new dataset of public procurement laws, practice, and outcomes in 187 countries. We measure regulation as restrictions on the discretion of the procuring entities. We find that laws and practice are highly correlated with each other across countries, and better practice is correlated with better outcomes, but laws themselves are not correlated with outcomes. A closer look shows that stricter laws correlate with improved outcomes, but only in countries with low public sector capacity. We present a model of procurement in which both regulatory rules and public sector capacity determine procurement outcomes. In the model, regulation is effective in countries with low public sector capacity, but not in countries with high capacity because it inhibits the socially optimal exercise of discretion to exclude low quality bidders.w dataset of public procurement laws, practice, and outcomes in 187 countries. We measure regulation as restrictions on the discretion of the procuring entities. We find that laws and practice are highly correlated with each other across countries, and better practice is correlated with better outcomes, but laws themselves are not correlated with outcomes. A closer look shows that stricter laws correlate with improved outcomes, but only in countries with low public sector capacity. We present a model of procurement in which both regulatory rules and public sector capacity determine procurement outcomes. In the model, regulation is effective in countries with low public sector capacity, but not in countries with high capacity because it inhibits the socially optimal exercise of discretion to exclude low quality bidders. (JEL D73, H11, H57, K12, K42, O17) |
| JEL: | D73 H11 H57 K12 K42 O17 |
| Date: | 2022–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:115158&r= |
| By: | Ria Ivandic; Tom Kirchmaier; Neus Torres-Blas |
| Abstract: | We study the role of alcohol and emotions in explaining the dynamics in domestic abuse following major football games. We match confidential and uniquely detailed individual call data from Greater Manchester with the timing of football matches over a period of eight years to estimate the effect on domestic abuse. We first observe a 5% decrease in incidents during the 2-hour duration of the game suggesting a substitution effect of football and domestic abuse. However, following the initial decrease, after the game, domestic abuse starts increasing and peaks about ten hours after the game, leading to a positive cumulative effect. We find that all increases are driven by perpetrators that had consumed alcohol, and when games were played before 7pm. Unexpected game results are not found to have a significant effect. |
| Keywords: | domestic abuse, crime, football, alcohol |
| Date: | 2021–07–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1781&r= |
| By: | Arnold, Grace E. |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the impact of supply-side abortion restrictions on aggregate abortion and birth rates in the United States. Specifically, I exploit state and time variation in the implementation of the first targeted regulation of abortion provider (TRAP) law in a state to identify the effects of the laws. I find that TRAP laws are associated with a reduction in the abortion rate of approximately 5% the year the first law is implemented, and an average reduction of 11-14% in subsequent years. There is also evidence that TRAP laws increased birth rates by 2-3%, which accounts for approximately 80-100% of the observed decline in abortion rates. |
| Keywords: | Abortion,Abortion Providers,Economics of Gender,Public Policy |
| JEL: | I18 J13 J16 J18 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1093&r= |
| By: | Cosmin Butura (Romanian Forensic Association, Bucharest, Romania) |
| Abstract: | Corruption arose from the moment when the need for a leader, guide, idol, etc., to ensure the proper functioning of a community arose. According to the statements of the great literary geniuses, who expressed their opinion on humanity in their works, a person is limited, as a result he cannot exceed the limits endowed by mother nature. This article will focus on the subject of the crime of corruption from the perspective of forensic investigation by going through different methodological elements in this regard. The first part of the article will present some preliminary considerations related to the provenance of corruption, some aspects related to the regulations of the corruption offense at European and national levels. The article will analyze the general criteria of forensic investigation of corruption represented by indices and problems related to the criminal investigation. Another sub-point framed in the article will be the finding of the flagrant offense consisting of elements such as the procedure of preparation for the finding of the crime, the essential problems, the composition of the investigation team, the forensic traps and the actual realization of the action. In the end, this article will explore tactics of carrying out other acts of criminal prosecution, represented by peculiarities in hearing the suspect, hearing the injured party, conducting confrontations and peculiarities regarding the search on computers. |
| Keywords: | corruption, politics, methodological elements, leader, justice, people, methods of investigation |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:smo:lpaper:0141&r= |
| By: | Maximilian Andres; Lisa Bruttel; Jana Friedrichsen |
| Abstract: | This paper sheds new light on the role of communication for cartel formation. Using machine learning to evaluate free-form chat communication among firms in a laboratory experiment, we identify typical communication patterns for both explicit cartel formation and indirect attempts to collude tacitly. We document that firms are less likely to communicate explicitly about price fixing and more likely to use indirect messages when sanctioning institutions are present. This effect of sanctions on communication reinforces the direct cartel-deterring effect of sanctions as collusion is more difficult to reach and sustain without an explicit agreement. Indirect messages have no, or even a negative, effect on prices. |
| Keywords: | cartel, collusion, communication, machine learning, experiment |
| JEL: | C92 D43 L41 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp2000&r= |
| By: | Gunadi, Christian |
| Abstract: | As of 2021, 16 U.S. States and the District of Columbia have implemented laws allowing undocumented migrants to acquire a driver's license. In this paper, I hypothesize that lower barriers to work caused by the ability to obtain driving licenses can affect undocumented migrants' fertility decisions. Using a differencein- differences strategy based on temporal and geographical variation in the implementation of laws granting undocumented migrants access to driving licenses across U.S. states, I find that these laws were associated with about 9% decline in childbirth among likely undocumented married women. Exploring the mechanism, the results of the analysis indicate that granting undocumented migrants access to driving licenses increased the propensity to work along the intensive margin. Among those at work, their usual weekly hours rose by approximately 1.5%. |
| Keywords: | driving licenses,undocumented immigrants,fertility,labor market impacts |
| JEL: | J13 I38 J15 K37 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1094&r= |
| By: | Raphael A. Auer |
| Abstract: | The emergence of so-called “decentralised finance” (DeFi) and a shadow financial system of cryptocurrency exchanges and stablecoin issuers raises the challenge of how to apply technology-neutral regulation so that similar risks are subject to the same rules. This paper makes the case for embedded supervision, ie a regulatory framework that provides for compliance in decentralised markets to be automatically monitored by reading the market’s ledger. This reduces the need for firms to actively collect, verify and deliver data. The paper explores the conditions under which distributed ledger data may be used to monitor compliance. To this end, a decentralised market is modelled that replaces today’s intermediary-based verification of legal data with blockchain-enabled credibility based on economic consensus. The key results set out the conditions under which the market’s economic consensus would be strong enough to guarantee that transactions are economically final, so that supervisors can trust the distributed ledger’s data. The paper concludes with a discussion of the legislative and operational requirements that would promote low-cost supervision and a level playing field for small and large firms. |
| Keywords: | decentralised finance, DeFi, tokenisation, asset-backed tokens, stablecoins, crypto-assets, cryptocurrencies, CBDC, regtech, suptech, regulation, supervision, Basel III, proportionality, blockchain, distributed ledger technology, digital currencies, proof |
| JEL: | D40 D20 E42 E51 F31 G12 G18 G28 G32 G38 K22 K24 L10 L50 M40 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9771&r= |
| By: | Piza, Caio (World Bank); Souza, André Portela (Fundação Getúlio Vargas); Emerson, Patrick M. (Oregon State University); Amorim, Vivian (World Bank) |
| Abstract: | Are bans effective at lowering child labor and increasing school attendance and, if so, do these effects lead to positive outcomes later in life? This paper seeks to answer these questions by examining the effect of a 1998 Brazilian law that increased the minimum employment age from 14 to 16. To examine this question we use two different regression discontinuity designs to analyze Brazilian household data. We find that the ban had no overall impact across affected children in Brazil, but that it led to a significant decrease in the labor market participation of urban boys, whose paid labor dropped 35 percent, driven mainly by a decrease in informal work. We also find a concomitant 10 percent increase in the share of urban boys only attending school. Interestingly, we find that by age 18 this cohort was still almost 20 percent less likely to have a paid job and was less likely to be economically active even when they were legally allowed to work. However, we find no evidence that the impact of the ban lasted over time as reflected in measures of educational attainment, employment rates, and wages. Our results suggest that when enforced, bans on child labor can have significant immediate impacts amongst affected populations, leading to a decrease in work and an increase in school attendance. It remains unclear if these impacts translate to improved adult outcomes. |
| Keywords: | child labor, education, labor laws |
| JEL: | C21 J08 J22 J24 K31 |
| Date: | 2022–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15324&r= |
| By: | Espa, Ilaria; Imeli, Brigitta |
| Abstract: | There are substantial sectoral differences in the number and design of Switzerland-based private sustainability standards. Their level of exposure to World Trade Organization (WTO) scrutiny also greatly differs depending on whether and to which extent the standards exhibit a nexus with state measures that restrict foreign competition in the Swiss market. Trade law concerns arise in the sectors of agriculture and cosmetics: the majority of Switzerland-based private sustainability standards in place exclude foreign products from certification. Their trade-restrictive effect is amplified as major retailers source key product lines from certified products. In cases where the discriminating private behaviour is related to state measures, the government’s responsibility cannot be excluded under WTO rules. |
| Date: | 2022–05–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wti:papers:1359&r= |
| By: | Maihold, Günther; Reisch, Viktoria |
| Abstract: | On 5 November 2020 Mexico ratified the socalled Escazú Agreement, a treaty between Latin American and Caribbean states on establishing regional transparency and environment standards, as the eleventh country to do so. The prescribed quorum of ratifications has thus been attained, and the agreement can come into force in 2021. This will launch an innovative multilateral instrument that is intended to create more citizen participation and improve the assertion of citizens' rights in environmental matters. In Latin America, economic interests dominate when it comes to the exploitation of raw materials; furthermore, there is a large number of conflicts over resources. The agreement thus offers affected indigenous tribes and humanrights defenders more opportunities for information, participation and access to the justice system in environmental matters. Despite this binding first step, some leading countries in the region have so far failed to ratify the agreement. Many of them are reluctant to join, arguing that certain provisions violate their national sovereignty and their freedom of decision. For Germany and Europe, the agreement offers new leverage for drafting supply chain laws. |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:swpcom:42021&r= |
| By: | Adilson Sampaio; Paulo Figueiredo; Klarizze Puzon |
| Abstract: | Using big data from the Brazilian public procurement system, this research aims to investigate what factors are associated with the occurrence of anticompetitive practices in electronic bidding. Our analysis considers all services contracted between 2014 and 2017. |
| Keywords: | Competition, Procurement, Fraud, Brazil |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2022-42&r= |