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on Law and Economics |
| By: | Miguel Ángel Santos (School of Government and Public Transformation, Tecnológico de Monterrey); Adan Silverio-Murillo (School of Government and Public Transformation, Tecnológico de Monterrey); Jose Balmori-de-la-Miyar (Business School, Universidad Anahuac); Abel Rodríguez (Author-Workplace-Name: School of Government and Public Transformation, Tecnológico de Monterrey) |
| Abstract: | Objective: To examine the impact of El Salvador’s unprecedented mass incarceration policy on crime. Methods: The identification strategy of this paper exploits the launch of the incarceration policy in El Salvador, which increased the country’s prison population by 150% in just one year, propelling it to the top of global incarceration rankings. The methodology consists of fixed-effects models. Data for homicides comes from the National Civil Police, while data for other crimes comes from El Salvador’s Multipurpose Household Survey. Results: El Salvador’s unprecedented mass incarceration policy reduced homicides by 42%. Further, evidence suggests that the policy reduced street robberies by 20% and rapes by 62%, but had no measurable impact on assault, larceny, or motor vehicle theft. Conclusion: These findings contribute to the ongoing debate on the selective effectiveness of punitive criminal justice strategies. The results suggest that the observed reduction in crime following the policy is primarily driven by incapacitation rather than deterrence. |
| Keywords: | Crime reduction, Public security policy, Policing, Mass incarceration, Homicide rates, Gang violence, Law enforcement, State capacity, El Salvador |
| JEL: | K42 H56 D74 |
| Date: | 2026–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gnt:wpaper:20 |
| By: | Gilles Paché (CERGAM - Centre d'Études et de Recherche en Gestion d'Aix-Marseille - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - UTLN - Université de Toulon) |
| Abstract: | From the French Connection to today's criminal networks, drug trafficking in France has undergone profound transformations, evolving from centralized, predictable structures to decentralized, technologically advanced organizations. This article examines these changes and highlights the need for a comprehensive approach that combines targeted law enforcement, social prevention programs, financial monitoring, and international cooperation. By reflecting on historical experience, policymakers and law enforcement agencies can better understand modern trafficking methods, anticipate the adaptability of criminal networks, and enhance the overall effectiveness of strategies aimed at reducing the social, economic, and security impacts of drug-related crime. |
| Keywords: | Drug trafficking, France, French Connection, History, Logistics |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05430974 |
| By: | Zuchowski, David; Maciel, Mateus |
| Abstract: | Most empirical research finds that immigration has no effect on crime. Nevertheless, public concerns about immigration and crime persist, possibly driven by misperceptions. In this paper, we examine how an immigration shock affects crime perception. Specifically, we analyze the impact of the sudden and large-scale arrival of Ukrainian refugees in Poland following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Using unique data on reported safety concerns, we find a persistent decline in perceived risk in regions more affected by the refugee inflow. We provide additional evidence that this effect stems from a shift in local crime perception due to exposure to war refugees, rather than from a reduction in actual safety threats. |
| Keywords: | Crime, Crime Perception, Safety Concerns, Refugee Migration |
| JEL: | F22 J15 K42 |
| Date: | 2025–11–20 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:127411 |
| By: | Sindri Engilbertsson; Sander Onderstal; Leonard Treuren |
| Abstract: | Antitrust authorities impose substantial penalties on firms engaging in illegal price-fixing. We examine how basing cartel fines on revenue, profit, or price overcharge influences prices, cartel incidence, and cartel stability. In an infinitely repeated Bertrand oligopoly game, we show that fines based on revenues/profits/overcharge incentivize firms to charge prices above/equal to/below the monopoly price. Cartels are stable for a smaller range of discount factors when fines are based on overcharges rather than other bases. We test these predictions in a laboratory experiment where subjects can form cartels, which allows them to discuss pricing at the risk of being detected and fined. By equalizing expected fines across treatments, we isolate the effect of the fine's base. We find that market prices are lowest under overcharge-based fines and highest under revenue-based fines. While these results align with the theoretical predictions, cartel incidence and cartel stability do not differ significantly across fining regimes. Our results suggest that antitrust authorities could improve enforcement by shifting from revenue-based fines to profit- or overcharge-based fines. |
| Keywords: | STG/23/026#57790427 |
| Date: | 2025–02–21 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ete:msiper:779661 |
| By: | Kartiki Verma (Department of Economics, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi); Sunil Kanwar (Department of Economics, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi) |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a novel de facto intellectual property rights (IPRs) Implementation Index, which measures the strength of IPRs based on the actual implementation of IP rights in India, over the period 1970–2020. Our index improves upon existing measures, including those by Rapp and Rozek (1990), Sherwood (1997), Ostergard (2000), Ginarte and Park (1997, 2008), and the World Economic Forum. Unlike some earlier indices which omit the enforcement dimension, or which capture only de jure provisions on the statutes, the IPRs Implementation Index that we propose explicitly incorporates the practical enforcement of IPRs. The index focuses on the actual implementation of legal provisions via judicial outcomes. Its construction is based on the analysis of 414 fully disposed IP infringement cases heard in Indian district and high courts, compiled from reliable judicial data sources, namely Indian Kanoon and E-Courts. Court behavior is evaluated against key provisions of the Indian Patents Act 1970 (2005), including preliminary injunctions, burden of proof reversal, case duration, and additional entitlements such as Anton Piller orders as well as cost awards. From these case-level indicators, three sub-indices are first developed for patents, copyrights, and trademarks, and then these are aggregated using alternative schemes such as equal weights, principal component analysis, and factor analysis. The final index ranges from 0 (weak implementation) to 1 (strong implementation). Using the aggregate index based on ‘equal weights’ for illustration, results show that India’s IPRs implementation improved steadily over the study period, with the index rising from 0.06 in 1970 to 0.53 in 2020, indicating a clear transition from ‘weak’ to ‘moderate’ implementation. These trends reflect not only the legal IP reforms in India, but also reflect their execution in reality. Analysis of sub-index dynamics shows that while all three components (i.e., patents implementation index, copyrights implementation index, and trademarks implementation index) co-move strongly with the final IPR index (correlations > 0.80). However, their contribution to final index’s variation is not uniform i.e., according to principal component analysis and factor analysis, weights of the sub-indices are near-balanced (30% to 38% approximately), with copyrights slightly stronger structurally, yet standardized OLS decomposition reveals a different pattern. Trademarks account for the largest unique share of variation (˜42%), followed closely by patents (˜39%), whereas copyrights contribute only ˜19%. This indicates that the overall index is jointly driven, but predominantly shaped by the influence of trademark and patent components. Comparison with the Ginarte and Park (1997) patent rights index for India reveals notable divergence in both interpretation and measured strength. The GP index appears to understate India’s IPR protection levels prior to 1999, while overstating them post-2000. Consequently, our IPRI index indicates relatively weaker post-2000 enforcement, even in the TRIPS era, than what is suggested by the GP index. Overall, the IPRI index presents a more calibrated and less biased representation of India’s IPR enforcement trajectory. |
| Keywords: | Intellectual property rights, enforcement, de facto index JEL codes: O34, C43, K11 |
| Date: | 2026–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cde:cdewps:359 |
| By: | Giorgia Marini (Università Sapienza di Roma - Dipartimento di Studi Giuridici, Filosofici ed Economici); Giulia Mino (Independent researcher (Law graduate)) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the constitutional principle of budgetary balance in the Italian legal system, focusing on the evolution of Article 81 of the Constitution and its implications for the sustainability of public finances. The original constitutional framework, as adopted in 1948, is analysed as a model centred on procedural budgetary constraints and parliamentary responsibility, which allowed for a broad margin of political discretion in fiscal policy and did not constitutionalise budget balance as a binding objective. Against this background, the paper reconstructs the progressive transformation of the constitutional discipline of public finance, culminating in the 2012 constitutional reform that introduced the balanced budget principle into Article 81. Particular attention is devoted to the interaction between domestic constitutional law and European fiscal governance, highlighting how supranational constraints have influenced national constitutional choices and reshaped the relationship between democratic decision-making and fiscal discipline. The analysis adopts a legal-institutional perspective informed by public finance theory, examining the effects of constitutional budgetary rules on fiscal sustainability, public expenditure, and the allocation of budgetary responsibilities. The paper also considers the role of constitutional adjudication in mediating the tension between fiscal constraints and the protection of fundamental rights. Overall, the study aims to contribute to the debate on constitutional budgeting by assessing the impact of the balanced budget principle on the structure and functioning of public finance in Italy. |
| Keywords: | Balanced budget; Article 81 of the Italian Constitution; Public finance; Fiscal sustainability; Constitutional budgeting; European fiscal governance |
| JEL: | H61 H62 H63 H11 K30 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gfe:pfrp00:00078 |
| By: | Andrea Prat; Fiona Scott Morton; Jacob Spitz |
| Abstract: | To investigate the emergence of a pro-wealthy bias in the US Supreme Court, we develop a protocol to identify and analyze all cases involving economic issues from 1953 to the present. We categorize the parties in these cases as “rich” or “poor” according to their likelihood of being wealthy. A vote is pro-rich if that outcome would directly shift resources to the party that is more likely to be wealthy. Using this dataset, we estimate case-specific intercepts, justice-specific latent ideal points, and party-level time trends using the Bayesian methods pioneered by Martin and Quinn (2002). In the 1950s, justices appointed by the two parties appear similar in their propensity to cast pro-rich votes. Over the sample period, we estimate a steady increase in polarization, culminating in an implied party gap of 47 percentage points by 2022. The magnitude of the gap suggests the usefulness of an economic metric for prediction relative to ideologies such as originalism or textualism. |
| JEL: | K0 K1 |
| Date: | 2026–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34643 |
| By: | Ninon Moreau-Kastler (EU Tax Observatory) |
| Abstract: | Can developed countries enforce that goods consumed domestically do not contribute to human rights violations in developing countries where they are sourced? This paper studies the enforcement of new due diligence policies, which constrain firms to curb foreign sourcing linked to human rights violations through transparency and reporting. I study the US Dodd-Frank Act Conflict Mineral Rule (2010), a limiting the use of conflict minerals extracted in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and adjoining countries in supply chains of US eletronic firms. The law increased administrative cost of complying firms, showing that subtantial regulatory constraints were created. I test how diligence obligations shaped exports of targeted countries, and whether they are circumvented through opaque territories called legal havens. Using a triple difference strategy and the structural gravity framework, I find that this policy decreased DRC and adjoining countries’ exports of conflict minerals by 76%. One fourth of this decrease is due to circumvention through legal havens, which then re-export more intensively to countries hosting foreign suppliers of US-regulated firms. |
| Keywords: | trade diversion; legal haven; due diligence; minerals; supply chains |
| JEL: | F14 F63 F59 H73 K33 O13 O24 |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dbp:wpaper:037 |
| By: | Gurbuz Cuneo, Alev; Tribin Uribe, Ana Maria; Trumbic, Tea; Perrin, Caroline |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a conceptual framework to analyze how gendered social norms mediate the effects of legal frameworks on women’s economic empowerment. Using the World Bank’s Women, Business and the Law domains, Safety, Mobility, Work, Pay, Marriage, Parenthood, Childcare, Entrepreneurship, Assets, and Pension, as an organizing structure, the study conducts a targeted, systematic review of 130 studies focused on nearly 30 single-country cases and diverse regional or multi-country contexts. Each study is coded by domain, research method, and type of norm-law interaction, enabling the identification of patterns of evidence and gaps. Only 56 percent of the reviewed studies establish causal relationships, with most relying on cross-sectional data and concentrated on high-income countries. Qualitative research provides rich contextual insights but remains fragmented. The review highlights a scarcity of longitudinal data, as existing sources differ in the types of information they provide, vary in country coverage, and are often discontinuous over time, resulting in limited evidence on the links or causal relationships between legal reforms and gendered social norms. Although not exhaustive, the paper offers both a conceptual and data-based map of the literature. |
| Date: | 2026–01–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:11288 |