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Dead Man Walking: An Empirical Reassessment of the Deterrent Effect of Capital Punishment Using the Bounds Testing Approach to Cointegration

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  • Russell Smyth
  • Paresh Kumar Narayan

Abstract

This paper empirically estimates a murder supply equation for the United States from 1965 to 2001 within a cointegration and error correction framework. Our findings suggest that any support for the deterrence hypothesis is sensitive to the inclusion of variables for the effect of guns and other crimes. In the long-run we find that real income and the conditional probability of receiving the death sentence are the main factors explaining variations in the homicide rate. In the short-run the aggravated assault rate and robbery rate are the most important determinants of the homicide ra

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  • Russell Smyth & Paresh Kumar Narayan, 2004. "Dead Man Walking: An Empirical Reassessment of the Deterrent Effect of Capital Punishment Using the Bounds Testing Approach to Cointegration," Econometric Society 2004 Australasian Meetings 332, Econometric Society.
  • Handle: RePEc:ecm:ausm04:332
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    3. Ansgar Belke & Thorsten Polleit, 2005. "(How) Do Stock Market Returns React to Monetary Policy? - An ARDL Cointegration Analysis for Germany," Diskussionspapiere aus dem Institut für Volkswirtschaftslehre der Universität Hohenheim 253/2005, Department of Economics, University of Hohenheim, Germany.
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    7. Samuel Bindu & Lloyd Chigusiwa & D. Mazambani & L. Muchabaiwa & V. Mudavanhu, 2011. "The Effect of stock market wealth on private consumption in Zimbabwe," International Journal of Business and Economic Sciences Applied Research (IJBESAR), International Hellenic University (IHU), Kavala Campus, Greece (formerly Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Institute of Technology - EMaTTech), vol. 4(2), pages 125-142, August.
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    9. Gebhard Kirchgässner, 2011. "Econometric Estimates of Deterrence of the Death Penalty: Facts or Ideology?," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(3), pages 448-478, August.
    10. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Arouri, Mohamed & Teulon, Frédéric, 2014. "Short- and long-run relationships between natural gas consumption and economic growth: Evidence from Pakistan," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 219-226.
    11. De Vita, Glauco & Trachanas, Emmanouil, 2016. "‘Nonlinear causality between crude oil price and exchange rate: A comparative study of China and India’ — A failed replication (negative Type 1 and Type 2)," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 150-160.
    12. Berit C. Gerritzen & Gebhard Kirchgässner, 2013. "Facts or Ideology: What Determines the Results of Econometric Estimates of the Deterrence Effect of Death Penalty? A Meta-Analysis," CESifo Working Paper Series 4159, CESifo.
    13. Verheyen, Florian, 2012. "Bilateral exports from euro zone countries to the US — Does exchange rate variability play a role?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 97-108.
    14. Muhammad, Shahbaz & V G R, Chandran & Pervaiz, Azeem, 2011. "Natural gas consumption and economic growth: cointegration, causality and forecast error variance decomposition tests for Pakistan," MPRA Paper 35103, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 30 Nov 2011.
    15. Ansgar Belke & Robert Czudaj, 2010. "Is Euro Area Money Demand (Still) Stable? Cointegrated VAR Versus Single Equation Techniques," Applied Economics Quarterly (formerly: Konjunkturpolitik), Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, vol. 56(4), pages 285-315.
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    17. Berit C. Gerritzen & Gebhard Kirchgässner, 2013. "Facts or Ideology: What Determines the Results of Econometric Estimates of the Deterrence Effect of Death Penalty?," CREMA Working Paper Series 2013-04, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    18. Ansgar Belke & Thorsten Polleit, 2006. "Monetary policy and dividend growth in Germany: long-run structural modelling versus bounds testing approach," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(12), pages 1409-1423.
    19. Ansgar Belke & Robert Czudaj, 2010. "Is Euro Area Money Demand (Still) Stable? – Cointegrated VAR versus Single Equation Techniques," Ruhr Economic Papers 0171, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Capital Punishment; Deterrent Effect; Cointegration;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C32 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions; Dynamic Treatment Effect Models; Diffusion Processes; State Space Models
    • K4 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior

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