We run a large-scale natural field experiment to evaluate alternative strategies to enforce compliance with the law. The experiment varies the text of mailings sent to potential evaders of TV license fees. We find a strong alert effect of mailings, leading to a substantial increase in...

I consider a general specification of criminals' objective function and argue that, when the general non-expected utility theory is substituted for the traditional expected utility theory, the high-fine-low-probability result (Becker, 1968) only holds under specific and strong restrictions

The vast majority of comic book publishers are not enforcing their copyrights against those that infringe by copying and distributing their comic books illegitimately. There are only three significant motivations for a copyright holder to enforce their copyrights against infringers: economic...

The literature on international cooperation has explored in detail how international sanctions improve cooperation with international agreements. This holds in particular for trade agreements where economic sanctions can and sometimes are deployed. However, in non-trade areas, such as human...

The notion to strengthen regimes for the enforcement of intellectual property currently takes centre stage in various international, regional and national forums. In general, developed countries are demanding stronger enforcement, while developing countries take a defensive stand aiming to...

The standard economic theory of crime deterrence predicts that the conviction of an innocent (type-I error) is as detrimental to deterrence as the acquittal of a guilty individual (type-II error). In this paper, we qualify this result theoretically, showing that in the presence of risk aversion,...

Using Italian data, this article presents an econometric investigation of the effects on infractions and accidents of the introduction of a demerit point system (DPS), as an additional sanctioning mechanism for traffic infringements. Our main finding is that the coming into force of the DPS...

Broken Windows: the metaphor has changed New York and Los Angeles. Yet it is far from un-disputed whether the broken windows policy was causal for reducing crime. In a series of lab experiments we put two components of the theory to the test. We show that first impressions and early punishment...

Based on a sample of 64 cartels convicted by the European Commission from 1975 to 2009 and a methodology allowing to estimate restitution and dissuasive fines to be imposed on cartels from microeconomic variables on a case by case basis, this paper compares the level of fines actually inflicted...