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on Law and Economics |
| By: | Papps, Kerry L. (University of Bradford) |
| Abstract: | The effects on criminal behaviour of raising the minimum wage for those aged 25 and over in the United Kingdom are analysed, using data on police stop and search activities. A 1% increase in the minimum wage raises the fraction of people stopped by the police by 2.96%, the fraction of people caught with an incriminating item by 1.43%, and the fraction of people arrested as a consequence by 1.27%. This effect is almost entirely driven by drug searches made outside business hours, suggesting that the minimum wage raises crime principally by raising disposable income – and drug consumption – among workers. |
| Keywords: | stop and search, crime, minimum wage |
| JEL: | K42 J22 J31 |
| Date: | 2025–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17989 |
| By: | Andrea Mario Lavezzi; Marco Quatrosi |
| Abstract: | In this article, we study the effects of organized crime infiltration in city councils on environmental policies implemented in Italy at the municipal level. To this purpose, we exploit the exogenous shock of the removal of a city council infiltrated by the mafia and its substitution with an external Commission, allowed in Italy by the law 164/1991. Our results suggest that after dissolution, environmental policies improve in several dimensions: the capital expenditure for sustainable development and the environment increases; the current expenditure on integrated water system increases; the percentage of sorted waste increases because, as we show, public expenditure is reallocated toward sorted waste at the expenses of unsorted waste. These results are robust to different specifications of the control group. In addition, we find significant spillover effects: the dissolution of infiltrated city councils implies an improvement in environmental policies in adjacent municipalities. Our results have a straightforward policy implication, the need to combat organized crime as a way to improve the environmental conditions of the territories plagued by its pervasive presence. |
| Date: | 2025–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2507.18410 |
| By: | Ernst Juerg Weber (Department of Economics, University of Western Australia) |
| Abstract: | Switzerland has a limited form of constitutional jurisdiction, restricting the Federal Supreme Court's ability to review the constitutionality of federal laws. Instead, direct-democratic mechanisms like popular initiatives and referendums ensure that government policy reflects the will of the people. This article contrasts the Swiss constitutional tradition with that of the United States, highlighting key constitutional challenges, such as judicial review, in the U.S. policy-making process. The success of a constitution depends on an informed electorate willing to engage in open and respectful debate. |
| Keywords: | democracy, rule of law, referendums |
| JEL: | K10 K30 D72 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uwa:wpaper:25-06 |
| By: | Akhtar, Shumi; Hoang-Le, Kien; Liu, Haoxuan; Vangal, Vidhulaa |
| Abstract: | Karsten Müller and Carlo Schwarz (2022) investigate the impact of Twitter on anti-Muslim hate crimes, demonstrating that higher Twitter usage correlates with increased hate crimes, particularly during Donald Trump's political rise. Their findings highlight social media's ability to amplify xenophobic attitudes and translate online rhetoric into real-world violence. Our replication confirms the main findings, showing that a one standard deviation increase in Twitter usage is associated with a 32% rise in hate crimes. While minor rounding differences exist, our computational results align with the original study, reinforcing the robustness of its empirical framework. Extending the analysis, we show heterogeneity in Twitter's impact, finding that weighting by Muslim population share strengthens the effect, whereas population-weighted estimates yield a weaker relationship, suggesting demographic composition plays a crucial role. Additionally, our urban-rural analysis reveals that Twitter's influence on hate crimes is significantly stronger in urban areas, likely due to higher connectivity and media exposure. Finally, we assess educational attainment, demonstrating that higher education mitigates the amplification of anti-Muslim tweets into hate crimes. These findings underscore the need for policy interventions, including digital literacy programs, targeted content moderation, and algorithmic adjustments, to curb online hate speech and its offline consequences. |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:i4rdps:246 |
| By: | Mocetti, Sauro; Pesenti, Ottavia; Roma, Giacomo |
| Abstract: | The measurement of productivity in the public sector is challenging, in part because of the difficulties associated with defining and quantifying outputs. Even when outputs are observable, their proper evaluation remains complex. This paper proposes a parsimonious yet generalizable model, using judicial courts as a case study, that assumes a linear production function in which each case has the same weight. The model shows that the number of resolved cases is systematically shaped by both the volume and the composition of newly filed cases. Consequently, standard productivity indicators that fail to account for the characteristics of incoming workloads may be severely biased. |
| Keywords: | performance; public sector; productivity; civil justice; inflows; outflows |
| JEL: | K40 |
| Date: | 2025–07–23 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:128897 |
| By: | Sebastian Roché (PACTE - Pacte, Laboratoire de sciences sociales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UGA - Université Grenoble Alpes - IEPG - Sciences Po Grenoble-UGA - Institut d'études politiques de Grenoble - UGA - Université Grenoble Alpes); Simon Varaine (PACTE - Pacte, Laboratoire de sciences sociales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UGA - Université Grenoble Alpes - IEPG - Sciences Po Grenoble-UGA - Institut d'études politiques de Grenoble - UGA - Université Grenoble Alpes) |
| Abstract: | Can social and economic macro-social shocks significantly affect citizens' trust in the police? We explore the credibility of dual expectancy disconfirmation theory whereby the trust in the police is the result of the responsibility attributed to the government for a shock combined with the evaluation of police action as helpful vs. harmful during the following crisis. Based on European Social Survey (ESS) data, we compare countries under shock with the rest of the EU states (Greece: economic hardship; France: terrorism; Spain: elite conflict. We show that, after a shock, trust in the police evolves as a result of a combined (dual)assessment of the government and the police by the citizens. Firstly, when a government is clearly responsible for the shock, it takes the blame, which spills over to the police. Conversely, when a government is confronted by a shock outside its decision-making realm, no blame spills over to the police. Secondly, the positive evaluation of the police depends on whether their intervention corresponds to the protective role they have been assigned: they are evaluated positively when they tackle a threat, and negatively when they forcibly prevent citizens from exercising their political rights. Thirdly, differential effects are always observable: segments of society which are exposed to more harm from the police become more reluctant to trust the police. This paper presents a theoretical backing for those studies that have previously dealt with shocks but were mostly based on micro level theories of police-citizens interactions with only limited theoretical attempts to consider the macro-level context. |
| Date: | 2025–04–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-05120570 |
| By: | Wu, Victor Y. |
| Abstract: | Mehmood et al. (2023) estimate the effect of Ramadan fasting hours on judicial decisions using case-level data from Pakistan and India. Using exogenous variation in fasting intensity due to the Islamic lunar calendar and latitude, the authors find that Muslim judges are significantly more likely to issue acquittals with longer fasting hours. Their main result, reported in Table 1, shows that each additional hour of fasting beyond the baseline minimum increases acquittal rates by about 10%. I successfully computationally reproduced this main result using the original authors' data and code: I found no coding errors or discrepancies in the replication package, and the point estimates and p-values in my reproduction match those reported in the published article. I then evaluated robustness for the Pakistan sample of judges using three alternative specifications. First, the result is robust to alternative inclusion of control variables: It remains stable and statistically significant whether controlling for case-level covariates, judge-level covariates, both, or none. Second, the effect persists across a different fixed effects specification that includes only district fixed effects. Finally, the result is robust to clustering standard errors at the judge level, although clustering at the month level increases the standard error and renders the estimate statistically insignificant. Overall, the authors' main finding is both computationally reproducible and robust. |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:i4rdps:245 |
| By: | Frédéric Marty; Thierry Warin |
| Abstract: | This article examines the competitive implications of algorithmic pricing in digital markets. While algorithmic pricing can enhance market efficiency through real-time adjustments, personalized offers, and inventory optimization, it also raises substantial risks, including tacit collusion, discriminatory pricing, market segmentation, and exploitative consumer manipulation. Drawing on theoretical models, simulations, and emerging empirical evidence, the brief explores how algorithmic strategies may lead to supra-competitive prices without explicit coordination, particularly in oligopolistic or data-rich environments. It also highlights how common algorithm providers, shared data sources, and learning dynamics can undermine competition. Special attention is given to the challenges posed by loyalty penalties, ecosystem lock-in, and granular predatory pricing. The paper concludes with a set of policy recommendations emphasizing updated enforcement tools, transparency mechanisms, ex ante regulation for dominant platforms, and a coordinated approach to digital market oversight that balances innovation with consumer protection. Cet article examine les implications concurrentielles de la tarification algorithmique sur les marchés numériques. Si la tarification algorithmique peut améliorer l'efficacité du marché grâce à des ajustements en temps réel, des offres personnalisées et une optimisation des stocks, elle présente également des risques importants, notamment la collusion tacite, la tarification discriminatoire, la segmentation du marché et la manipulation abusive des consommateurs. S'appuyant sur des modèles théoriques, des simulations et des données empiriques émergentes, cet article explore comment les stratégies algorithmiques peuvent conduire à des prix supraconcurrentiels sans coordination explicite, en particulier dans les environnements oligopolistiques ou riches en données. Il souligne également comment les fournisseurs d'algorithmes communs, les sources de données partagées et la dynamique d'apprentissage peuvent nuire à la concurrence. Une attention particulière est accordée aux défis posés par les pénalités de fidélité, le verrouillage de l'écosystème et les prix prédateurs granulaires. L'article conclut par un ensemble de recommandations politiques mettant l'accent sur la mise à jour des outils d'application, les mécanismes de transparence, la réglementation ex ante des plateformes dominantes et une approche coordonnée de la surveillance du marché numérique qui concilie innovation et protection des consommateurs. |
| JEL: | L41 D43 L13 K21 G18 |
| Date: | 2025–08–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cir:circah:2025pr-09 |
| By: | Michael D. Frakes; Melissa F. Wasserman |
| Abstract: | Biological drugs account for just two percent of prescriptions filled in the U.S. but fifty percent of prescription-drug spending. To explore the role patents play in explaining high biologics prices, we build the first comprehensive database of patents associated with all FDA-approved biologics. We first establish that much of what drives biologic patenting is the desire to block entry by competing biosimilars. For these purposes, we estimate the response to a 2010 Act that created an abbreviated pathway for biosimilars to receive FDA approval. We then document robust evidence consistent with two patenting strategies that may block biosimilar competition: thicketing and evergreening, whereby firms supplement primary patents with a dense web of later-expiring patents on secondary drug features. We conduct various exercises to suggest that these behaviors are undertaken with exclusionary purposes that go beyond the traditional justifications of the patent system. We then set forth various descriptive statistics surrounding biosimilar entry to suggest that these patenting strategies are, in fact, effective at delaying biosimilar entry. Finally, we simulate the degree to which biologics patent portfolios are impacted by policy proposals currently under consideration to address thicketing and evergreening. |
| JEL: | K0 L50 L65 O34 |
| Date: | 2025–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34024 |