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Criminals and risk attitude

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Author Info
Langlais, Eric

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Abstract

We show that whatever the representation of criminals' preferences under risk, the assumption according to which they are strongly risk averse individuals is not consistent with the available observations establishing that criminals are more sensitive to shifts in the probability of sanction than to changes in the level of the sanction. We suggest that: 1/ while a weakening of the risk aversion assumption may be useful, the risk seeking assumption may be better suited for criminals; 2/ the relevant assumption regarding criminals' risk attitude may depend on the policy instruments that models of crime deterrence take into account; 3/ additional experiments, including both monetary penalties and non monetary sanctions would be useful in order to learn more about their sensibility to probability, monetary and non monetary sanctions.

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File URL: http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/1149/
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Publisher Info
Paper provided by University Library of Munich, Germany in its series MPRA Paper with number 1149.

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Date of creation: Jun 2006
Date of revision: 15 Sep 2006
Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:1149

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Related research
Keywords: Risk aversion monetary and non monetary sanctions State Dependent preferences and RDEU models

Find related papers by JEL classification:
K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
K40 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - General
D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
K41 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Litigation Process

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References listed on IDEAS
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  1. Polinsky, A. Mitchell & Shavell, Steven, 1984. "The optimal use of fines and imprisonment," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 89-99, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  2. Jones-Lee, Michael W, 1974. "The Value of Changes in the Probability of Death or Injury," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(4), pages 835-49, July/Aug.. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Cook, Philip J & Graham, Daniel A, 1977. "The Demand for Insurance and Protection: The Case of Irreplaceable Commodities," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 91(1), pages 143-56, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Tversky, Amos & Wakker, Peter, 1995. "Risk Attitudes and Decision Weights," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 63(6), pages 1255-80, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Grogger, Jeffrey, 1991. "Certainty vs. Severity of Punishment," Economic Inquiry, Oxford University Press, vol. 29(2), pages 297-309, April.
  6. Neilson, William S. & Winter, Harold, 1997. "On criminals' risk attitudes," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 55(1), pages 97-102, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Chateauneuf, Alain & Cohen, Michele, 1994. "Risk Seeking with Diminishing Marginal Utility in a Non-expected Utility Model," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 9(1), pages 77-91, July.
  8. Joshua Graff Zivin & Richard Just & David Zilberman, 2003. "Risk Aversion, Liability Rules, and Safety," NBER Working Papers 9678, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  9. Neilson, William S, 1998. "Optimal Punishment Schemes with State-Dependent Preferences," Economic Inquiry, Oxford University Press, vol. 36(2), pages 266-71, April.
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