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Counting offenders’ gains? Economic and moral considerations in the determination of criminality

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  • Thomas J. Miceli

    (University of Connecticut)

Abstract

The question of whether or not offenders’ gains should be counted in social welfare began with Stigler’s original critique of the Becker model, but that debate has been carried out solely within the context of law enforcement while taking the content of law as given. This paper extends the discussion to the question of what acts should be made criminal. It does this by viewing the Becker model of crime through the lens of the Coase–Calabresi–Melamed framework for assigning and protecting legal entitlements in conflicting-use situations. The analysis shows that the economic model cannot uniquely determine criminality, even when some allowance is made for a divergence between private and social values, provided that sanctions are optimally set. The content of law must therefore be imposed exogenously based on moral or other considerations.

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas J. Miceli, 2022. "Counting offenders’ gains? Economic and moral considerations in the determination of criminality," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 54(3), pages 475-496, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:ejlwec:v:54:y:2022:i:3:d:10.1007_s10657-022-09744-7
    DOI: 10.1007/s10657-022-09744-7
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    Cited by:

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    2. Friehe, Tim & Mungan, Murat C., 2022. "Private protection against crime and public policing: Political economy considerations," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 220(C).
    3. Ken Yahagi & Susumu Cato, 2023. "Strategic crackdown on organized crime by local governments," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 24(2), pages 237-257, June.

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    JEL classification:

    • K14 - Law and Economics - - Basic Areas of Law - - - Criminal Law
    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law

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