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Crime and punishment in the "American Dream"

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  • Di Tella, Rafael
  • Dubra, Juan

Abstract

We observe that countries where belief in the "American dream"(i.e., effort pays) prevails also set harsher punishment for criminals. We know that beliefs are also correlated with several features of the economic system (taxation, social insurance, etc). Our objective is to study the joint determination of these three features (beliefs, punitiveness and economic system) in a way that replicates the observed empirical patterns. We present a model where beliefs determine the types of contracts that firms offer and whether workers exert effort. Some workers become criminals, depending on their luck in the labor market, the expected punishment, and an individual shock that we call "meanness". It is this meanness level that a penal system based on "retribution" tries to detect when deciding the severity of the punishment. We find that when initial beliefs differ, two equilibria can emerge out of identical fundamentals. In the "American" (as opposed to the "French") equilibrium, belief in the "American dream" is commonplace, workers exert effort, there are high powered contracts (and income is unequally distributed) and punishments are harsh. Economists who believe that deterrence (rather than retribution) shapes punishment can interpret the meanness parameter as pessimism about future economic opportunities and verify that two similar equilibria emerge.

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Bibliographic Info

Article provided by Elsevier in its journal Journal of Public Economics.

Volume (Year): 92 (2008)
Issue (Month): 7 (July)
Pages: 1564-1584

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Handle: RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:92:y:2008:i:7:p:1564-1584

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Web page: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505578

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Cited by:
  1. María Laura Alzúa & Catherine Rodriguez & Edgar Villa, 2010. "The Quality of Life in Prisons: Do Educational Programs Reduce In-Prison Conflicts?," NBER Chapters, in: The Economics of Crime: Lessons for and from Latin America, pages 239-264 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  2. Rafael Di Tella & Juan Dubra, 2011. "Free to Punish? The American Dream and the Harsh Treatment of Criminals," NBER Working Papers 17309, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  3. Rafael Di Tella & Juan Dubra, 2009. "Anger and Regulation," NBER Working Papers 15201, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  4. Rafael Di Tella & Juan Dubra & Robert MacCulloch, 2008. "A Resource Belief-Curse? Oil and Individualism," NBER Working Papers 14556, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  5. Pietro Vertova, 2011. "Prison Conditions and Recidivism," American Law and Economics Review, Oxford University Press, vol. 13(1), pages 103-130.

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