Browse

This book presents an economic analysis of decisions made by criminals and victims of crime before, during, and after a crime or victimization occurs. Its main purpose is to illustrate how the application of analytical tools from economics can help us to understand the causes and consequences of criminal and victim choices, aiding efforts to deter or reduce the consequences of crime. By examining these decisions along a logical timeline over which crimes take place, we can begin to think more clearly about how policy effects change when it is targeted at specific decisions within the body of a crime. This book differs from others by recognizing the timeline of a crime, paying particular attention to victim decisions, and examining each step in the crime cycle at the micro-level. It demonstrates that criminals plan their crimes in systematic, economically logical ways; that deterring the destruction of criminal evidence may deter crime in general; and that white-collar criminals exhibit recidivism patterns not unlike those of street criminals. It further shows that the degree of criminality in a society motivates a variety of self-protection behaviors by potential victims; that not all victim resistance makes matters worse (and some may help); and that victims who report their crimes do not receive high returns for going to the police, helping to explain why some crimes ultimately go unreported.

This book provides an in-depth investigation of the link between human capital and economic growth. The book examines the determinants of economic growth through a historical overview of the concept of human capital. The text fosters an understanding of the connection between human capital and economic growth through the exploration of different theoretical approaches, a review of the literature, and the application of nonlinear estimation techniques to a comprehensive data set. The book discusses nonparametric econometric techniques and their application to estimating nonlinearities—which has emerged as one of the most salient features of empirical work in modeling the human capital–growth relationship, and the process of economic growth in general.

This book attempts to distill econometrics into a form that preserves its essence, but that is acceptable—and even appealing—to the student's intellectual palate. It insists on rigor when it is essential, but it emphasizes intuition and seizes upon entertainment wherever possible. The book is motivated by three beliefs. First, students are, perhaps despite themselves, interested in questions that only econometrics can answer. Second, through these answers, they can come to understand, appreciate, and even enjoy the enterprise of econometrics. Third, this text, which presents select innovations in presentation and practice, can provoke readers' interest and encourage the responsible and insightful application of econometric techniques. In particular, the book gives readers many opportunities to practice proofs—which are challenging, but which it has been found to improve reader comprehension. Learning from proofs gives readers an organic understanding of the message behind the numbers, a message that will benefit them as they come across statistics in their daily lives.