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Economists, Crime and Punishment

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The Economic Dimensions of Crime

Abstract

At first sight crime may appear to be a peculiar topic for economic analysis. What can an economist contribute to an understanding of such a self-evidently non-economic phenomenon? It turns out that economists have a great deal to say on the subject — first, about what motivates individuals to commit crime and second, about how society should allocate resources in order to reduce the damage caused by crime. In this chapter we will focus on the first of these issues.

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© 2000 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited

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Pyle, D. (2000). Economists, Crime and Punishment. In: Fielding, N.G., Clarke, A., Witt, R. (eds) The Economic Dimensions of Crime. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-62853-7_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-62853-7_4

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-349-62855-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-349-62853-7

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