Premium
The Theory of Optimal Law Enforcement
Author(s) -
Garoupa Nuno
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
journal of economic surveys
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.657
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 1467-6419
pISSN - 0950-0804
DOI - 10.1111/1467-6419.00034
Subject(s) - conviction , law enforcement , punishment (psychology) , economics , enforcement , core (optical fiber) , work (physics) , focus (optics) , criminal law , law , political science , psychology , computer science , engineering , mechanical engineering , social psychology , telecommunications , physics , optics
The economic literature on optimal law enforcement is very recent. Becker's seminal paper on crime and law enforcement dates from 1968 and most papers which are the focus of this survey have been published in the last ten years.The core result presented by Becker is the following: the probability and the severity of punishment deter crime. Therefore, the fine should be maximal since it is a costless transfer whereas the probability of detection and conviction is costly. Much of the recent work has attempted to show why Becker's result may not hold.