|
on Law and Economics |
| By: | Katharina Drescher |
| Abstract: | I study the impact of school social workers on youth crime and education. As a political reaction to a school rampage, a large German state introduced funding for school social workers, resulting in a strong increase in their numbers. Using the spatial and temporal variation in its implementation and unique administrative crime data, I find that school social workers reduce youth crime by 17% per year, lower victimization from violent crimes, and help uncover sexual offenses. They also improve educational outcomes by reducing grade retention. The results emphasize the crucial role of school personnel beyond teachers in shaping youth development. |
| Keywords: | School Social Work, Education, Crime, Victimization, Youth |
| JEL: | I20 I24 J13 K42 |
| Date: | 2026–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bav:wpaper:246_drescher.rdf |
| By: | Anna Bindler; Randi Hjalmarsson; Stephen Machin; Melissa Rubio-Ramos |
| Abstract: | This paper studies how and why anti-Irish sentiment in 19th century England spills over onto jury decisions at London’s Old Bailey Central Criminal Court. We classify the (perceived) ethnicity of courtroom participants according to whether they have distinctly Irish or English surnames based on place of birth in the 1881 census. Irish-named defendants have significantly worse outcomes: juries are 3% more likely to convict Irish-named defendants and 16% less likely to recommend mercy in sentencing. Sentencing gaps are larger for violent crimes and robust to different classifications of surname Irishness, as well as to the inclusion of case and defendant controls. We argue that these findings are unlikely to be driven by correlated unobservable case or trial characteristics (like defense quality). Rather, we provide two pieces of evidence consistent with the gaps being driven by animus towards those perceived to be Irish. First, taking advantage of exogenous variation in expected punishment driven by the abolition of capital punishment, we show that juries react differentially to shifts in extraneous factors when the defendant is Irish- versus English-named. Second, these gaps are not limited to Irish- named defendants but also seen for other courtroom participants – namely Irish-named victims. Finally, we trace out the longer run evolution of these gaps throughout the 1800s: they first emerge during the capital punishment reform period, widen during the mid-century Irish Potato Famine induced migration to London, and thereafter remain primarily stable. |
| Keywords: | Irish, crime, criminal law, discrimination, economic history |
| JEL: | K42 K14 J15 N33 N93 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp2152 |
| By: | Gil Nogueira; Geraldo Cerqueiro |
| Abstract: | We show that weak judicial enforcement and credit frictions jointly govern the transmission of corporate distress through trade-credit networks. Weak judicial enforcement increases the losses associated with defaulted trade credit, while credit frictions limit trade creditors' ability to absorb those losses. We exploit variation in court congestion generated by a nationwide reform that reassigned pending bankruptcy cases across courts. Trade creditors are more likely to go bankrupt when their trade debtor's case is handled by a congested court and when they face binding credit frictions. Bank relationships mitigate these frictions and insulate trade creditors from distress transmission. A counterfactual exercise shows that moving from the least tothe most efficient courts would reduce bankruptcy propagation by 40% and increase aggregate sales by 2%. |
| JEL: | D85 G21 G32 G33 K41 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ptu:wpaper:w202529 |
| By: | Neil Wilson; Richard Tye; Andrew Berkeley |
| Abstract: | This paper challenges the widespread public and institutional misconception that legal tender laws in English law compel creditors to accept payment in a specific form. We argue that legal tender is a narrow, procedural artefact with diminishing practical relevance. Through an analysis of statutory provisions, common law, and the Civil Procedure Rules, we demonstrate that legal tender serves not as a substantive right to discharge debts but as a limited procedural defense concerning liability for costs in litigation. By examining the institutional mechanisms for settling private contractual debts and public statutory obligations, such as taxes, we show that settlement occurs almost exclusively through electronic, bank-mediated systems. The paper concludes that the operational currency of the modern state is not physical legal tender but central bank reserves and commercial bank money, rendering legal tender a concept of largely historical and symbolic significance. |
| Keywords: | Legal tender; Monetary law; Tax obligations; Payment systems |
| JEL: | B50 E42 K12 K34 |
| Date: | 2026–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lev:wrkpap:wp_1103 |
| By: | Bruno Deffains (CRED - Université-Paris-Panthéon-Assas); Claudio Ceccarelli (ISTAT, Italy); Antonio Cappiello (Consiglio Nazionale del Notariato) |
| Abstract: | The exploration of OECD PMR and World Bank data, allowed to understand the impact of regulation on the notarial activity as well as the notarial performances (property transfer and company incorporation) compared to countries not adopting notaries. The last edition of the PMR indicator, as in the past OECD report, shows a trend of negative correlation between level of regulation and cost paid by the consumer for the property transfer. A higher level of regulation therefore tendo to produce better results for consumers precisely because the notary is part of the administration of justice and his services represent a "public good". As regards the comparison of scores between countries that adopt the notary and others that adopt other systems, the analysis of the B-Ready data shows better performances of the countries with notaries both for real estate transfers and for company incorporation. These findings invite a broader reconsideration of how regulation is conceptualized and measured in the context of legal services. From an economic standpoint, the civil law notariat is not a regulatory anomaly, but a functionally efficient institutional design that internalizes market failures, such as information asymmetry, contractual incompleteness, and enforcement risk, at the very heart of transactional life. The data presented throughout the paper demonstrate that regulation does not necessarily entail inefficiency. On the contrary, well-calibrated regulatory frameworks—such as those governing notaries—may reduce total transaction costs by providing legal certainty ex ante, thereby lowering litigation, renegotiation, and enforcement costs ex post. Therefore, this paper calls for a redefinition of what constitutes “efficient regulation” in the legal sector. It advocates for evaluation tools that take into account not only market openness but also the institutional role of legal professionals in delivering public value through trust, risk reduction, and systemic coherence. Such a shift is not merely technical; it is foundational for ensuring that regulatory reform enhances both market performance and legal robustness. |
| Keywords: | professional services, competition, OECD PMR indicators, notaries, law & economics |
| JEL: | K15 K21 K25 L4 L41 L43 L8 L84 L85 L86 |
| Date: | 2025–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:afd:wpaper:2507 |
| By: | Gerald Foong; Stephen Machin; Matteo Sandi |
| Abstract: | We study whether economic incentives matter for crime in a novel way, through study of expensive precious metal thefts by thieves stealing catalytic converters. We combine sharp, plausibly exogenous variation in the prices of precious metals embedded in converters with newly assembled U.S. data and multiple research designs. We show that phenomenally fast increases in precious metal prices generated a sizeable and rapid rise in auto-part thefts, while subsequent price declines and policy responses quickly reversed this pattern. The resulting boom-and-bust dynamics provide clean evidence that both demand- and supply-side economic forces shape property crime and inform targeted deterrence policies. |
| Keywords: | expensive precious metals, auto-part theft, catalytic converters |
| Date: | 2026–01–16 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp2141 |
| By: | Luke D. Brinkman; Andrew Jordan; Derek Neal |
| Abstract: | We study the impacts of a reform to parole supervision in Illinois. The reform reduced the term of supervision for some parolees from 12 months to 6 months while many similar parolees continued to receive 12 months of supervision. We evaluate the impact of the reform using a standard difference-in-differences estimator, and we find clear evidence that the reform reduced prison re-entry rates. Sharp drops in rates of technical revocations drove these reductions. Rates of prison re-admissions linked to new crimes did not change. We merge data from Cook County Courts with our data on state prison admissions and releases, and we find no evidence that the reform increased crime rates among parolees. The reform reduced both the cost of incarceration and the cost of parolee supervision without creating harms to public safety. |
| JEL: | J18 K0 K14 |
| Date: | 2026–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34663 |
| By: | da Silva, Thaiza Siqueira; dos Santos, Ana Paula Lima; Borges, Tomás Paixão |
| Abstract: | The study investigates whether community policing increases police legitimacy. We understand legitimacy as the acceptance of police authorities as legitimate and trustworthy holders of power (O’Brien; Tyler, 2019). Based on nine (9) reviews addressing themes related to this question, we find that police legitimacy is strengthened when citizens perceive fair treatment, responsiveness, and respect from police authorities. In this sense, when these conditions are met, community policing is viewed as one of the public security policies capable of enhancing police legitimacy. |
| Date: | 2026–01–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:9asw4_v1 |
| By: | Weiwei Chen; Johanna Catherine Maclean; Michael T. French |
| Abstract: | Cannabis is the most used illicit drug in the United States. Though cannabis possession and consumption are prohibited federally, states are increasingly implementing laws that legalize this substance, initially for medical use and, more recently, for recreational use. We study the impact of recreational cannabis laws (RCLs) that allow all adults 21 years and older to legally consume and possess this substance on reports of child maltreatment and post-investigation service use. To do so, we combine difference-in-differences methods with administrative data on child maltreatment reports 2010-2022. Overall, we find no evidence that child maltreatment reports or service use are influenced by RCL adoption, though we find that physical abuse reports decline. Our findings indicate that recent efforts to legalize cannabis for recreational consumption have not led to an increase in child maltreatment reports. |
| JEL: | H0 I12 K0 |
| Date: | 2026–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34673 |