Social Networks and Crime Decisions: The Role of Social Structure in Facilitating Delinquent Behavior

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Social Networks and Crime Decisions: The Role of Social Structure in Facilitating Delinquent Behavior

Author Info

Calvó-Armengol, Antoni () (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)
Zenou, Yves () (The Research Institute of Industrial Economics)

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Abstract

We develop a model in which delinquents compete with each other in criminal activities but may benefit from being friends with other criminals by learning and acquiring proper know-how on the crime business. By taking the social network connecting agents as given, we study the subgame perfect Nash equilibrium of this game in which individuals decide first to work or to become a criminal and then the crime effort provided if criminals. We show that this game always has a pure strategy subgame perfect Nash equilibrium that we characterize. Ex ante identical individuals connected through a network can end up with very different equilibrium outcomes: either employed, or isolated criminal or criminals in network. We also show that multiple equilibria with different number of active criminals and levels of involvement in rime activities may coexist and are only driven by the geometry of the pattern of links connecting criminals. Using the equilibrium concept of pairwise-stable networks, we then show that the multiplicity of equilibrium outcomes holds even when we allow for endogenous network formation.

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Paper provided by Research Institute of Industrial Economics in its series Working Paper Series with number 601.

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Length: 19 pages
Date of creation: 21 Oct 2003
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:0601

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Article
- Antoni Calvó-Armengol & Yves Zenou, 2004. "Social Networks And Crime Decisions: The Role Of Social Structure In Facilitating Delinquent Behavior," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 45(3), pages 939-958, 08. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Paper
- Calvó-Armengol, Antoni & Zenou, Yves, 2003. "Social Networks and Crime Decisions: The Role of Social Structure in Facilitating Delinquent Behaviour," CEPR Discussion Papers 3966, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)

Find related papers by JEL classification:
C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Social Norms and Social Capital; Social Networks Economic Anthropology

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

NEP-ALL-2003-11-03 (All new papers)
NEP-LAW-2003-11-03 (Law & Economics)
NEP-MFD-2003-11-03 (Microfinance)
NEP-NET-2003-11-03 (Network Economics)
NEP-URE-2003-11-03 (Urban & Real Estate Economics)

References listed on IDEAS
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