Ransomware has become the most common cyber risk for businesses. The rise is not driven by attackers using innovative attacks, but instead by deteriorating negotiation outcomes. The average payment grew by almost 20,000% since 2018. However, it remains unclear why attackers can demand ever...

Online sextortion is an organised form of blackmail which can have a serious financial and traumatic impact on its victims. Responding to a dearth of evidence about this crime, this study analyses patterns within a large dataset of over 23,000 anonymous victim reports, collected via an online...

How do gangs compete for extortion? Using detailed data on individual extortion payments to gangs and sales from a leading wholesale distributor of consumer goods and pharmaceuticals in El Salvador, we document evidence on the determinants of extortion payments and the effects of extortion on...

How do gangs compete for extortion? Using detailed data on individual extortion payments to gangs and sales from a leading wholesale distribution firm in El Salvador, we document new evidence on the determinants of extortion payments and the economic costs of extortion via pass-through. We...

Whistle-blowing is usually regarded as a way to identify abuse and wrongdoing on the part of governments and corporations. In this paper we show how, at a micro level, whistle-blowing can be used as a designer tool to prevent opportunistic behavior, that takes the form of collusion or blackmail,...

Whistle-blowing is usually regarded as a way to identify abuse and wrongdoing on the part of governments and corporations. In this paper we show how, at a micro level, whistle-blowing can be used as a designer tool to prevent opportunistic behavior, that takes the form of collusion or blackmail,...

Whistle-blowing is usually regarded as a way to identify abuse and wrongdoing on the part of governments and corporations. In this paper we show how, at a micro level, whistle-blowing can be used as a designer tool to prevent opportunistic behavior, that takes the form of collusion or blackmail,...

В статье ведущего российского социолога и политолога, на протяжении десятилетий исследующего состояние российско-американских отношений, поднимается...

In the present study is performed the analysis of the constituent and aggravating circumstantial elements to the offenses referred to at art.189 of the Penal Code of the Republic of Moldova. Article seeks to clarify some aspects less investigated of the offences in question. As a result of the...

Despite the fact that blackmail constitutes a voluntary transaction between two parties, it is deemed to be a criminal offence in most legal systems. Traditional economic approach to this so-called ‘paradox of blackmail’ emphasizes welfare loss generated by the costly rentseeking activities...

Despite the fact that blackmail constitutes a voluntary transaction between two parties, it is deemed to be a criminal offence in most legal systems. Traditional economic approach to this so-called ‘paradox of blackmail’ emphasizes welfare loss generated by the costly rentseeking activities...

Данная работа представляет собой научно-правовой анализ статьи 309 УК РФ «Подкуп или принуждение к даче показаний или уклонению от дачи показаний либо к...

The "puzzle" of blackmail is that threats to reveal private information that would be harmful to someone in exchange for money are illegal, but revelation is not. The resolution is that concealment of information about product quality impedes the efficient operation of markets, whereas...

This paper analyzes abuse of authority in a principal-supervisor-agent hierarchy under moral hazard. We characterize the optimal contracts when the supervisor takes advantage of his authority by blackmailing the agent. We show that the optimal policy for the principal is to deter abuse of...

This paper explores the power of threats in the absence of binding commitment. The threatener cannot commit to carry out the threat if the victim refuses payment, and cannot commit not to carry out the threat if payment is made. An important assumption of the model is that once the threat is...