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on Law and Economics |
| By: | Hideo Akabayashi (Faculty of Economics, Keio University); Toshihiro Akihito (Recruit Works Institute) |
| Abstract: | Local statutory rape laws in Japan, where the national marriageable age is 16 for females (18 for males), criminalize sexual acts with those generally under 18 unless the offender and the victim are in "serious love toward marriage." The critiques argue that the vagueness of the law interferes "true love" toward legal marriage, rather than protecting minors. This paper provides some evidence on this question by estimating the effects of the passage of statutory rape rule and the changes in the degree of enforcement at local prefectures on teenage marriage. Using the regional data of cohorts born between 1940-1990, we find that the passage of the law significantly encourages new marital formation of women under 18. We do not find evidence that the law increases the divorce rate of women under 18. Therefore, the statutory rape law is likely to prohibit "true love" sexual relationships, encouraging the formal marital formation as a substitute, without increasing reluctant "cover-up" marriage. |
| Keywords: | Marriage, Statutory rape, Punishment, Protection of minors |
| JEL: | J12 K14 K36 |
| Date: | 2017–03–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:keo:dpaper:2017-005&r=law |
| By: | Lena Epp; Nastassia Leszczynska |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the impact of a public officials' fairness considerations towards citizens in a petty corruption situation. Other-regarding preferences, and, more particularly, fairness concerns are widely acknowledged as crucial elements of individual economic decision-making. In petty corruption contexts, public officials are to a large extent aware of differences between citizens. Here, we experimentally investigate how fairness considerations may impact on corrupt behaviour. Our novel bribery game reveals that bribes are less frequently accepted when bribers are unequal in terms of endowments. These results suggest that fairness considerations can inflluence corrupt behaviour. |
| Keywords: | petty corruption; bribery; laboratory experiment; fairness; inequality |
| JEL: | C91 D63 D73 K42 |
| Date: | 2017–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eca:wpaper:2013/250400&r=law |
| By: | Marco Le Moglie; Giuseppe Sorrenti |
| Abstract: | We study the investment of criminal organizations in the legal economy. We focus on Italy, a country historically plagued by a conspicuous presence of mafia-type organizations. By using the exogenous credit contraction imposed by the 2007 financial crisis we highlight how the consequences for newly established enterprises have been less severe in areas with organized crime. Although criminal organizations are largely detrimental for local economic conditions, their economic activity might act as an economic stabilizer in the short-run, especially in a context of weak institutional presence. The investment in the legal economy allows criminal organizations to launder money, make profits, and raise social consensus through the provision of alternative sources of social insurance. |
| Keywords: | Mafia, organized crime, illegal enterprises, financial crisis |
| JEL: | K42 L26 |
| Date: | 2017–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zur:econwp:251&r=law |
| By: | Hakan Yilmazkuday (Department of Economics, Florida International University) |
| Abstract: | The fear of becoming a victim of crime acts like barriers to retail trade for consumers, where retailers attempt to reduce such barriers by enduring additional costs such as insurance or security/surveillance costs; as a result, retail prices are affected by the possibility of crime. This paper attempts to measure such effects by considering the recent experience of the County of Sacramento, where an anti-panhandling ordinance has been issued to protect the retailers. As an application, a difference-in-difference approach is employed to identify the effects of the ordinance on Sacramento gasoline prices at the retail level, by considering the gasoline prices in neighbor counties as the control group of a natural experiment. The results show that the anti-panhandling ordinance has resulted in lower gasoline prices in the County of Sacramento. |
| Keywords: | Anti-Crime Laws, Gasoline Retail Prices, Gas-Station Level Analysis; County of Sacramento |
| JEL: | H73 K42 |
| Date: | 2017–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fiu:wpaper:1702&r=law |
| By: | Tsuyoshi Goto (Graduate School of Economics, Osaka University); Nobuo Akai (Osaka School of International Public Policy, Osaka University) |
| Abstract: | In spite of a heated debate over immigration policies in the world, the effects of visa, which is one of the representative tool for immigration control, are uncertain for some aspects. This paper analyzes whether visa relaxation has impacts on both legal foreign visitors and illegally overstayed foreigners focusing on Japanese visa waiver program. The empirical analyses show that visa waiver will increase both legal travelers and illegally overstayed foreigners while it may have a bigger effect on legal visitors than overstayed foreigners. |
| Keywords: | Visa; Immigration policy; Policy evaluation |
| JEL: | F22 F68 H56 K37 L51 |
| Date: | 2017–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osk:wpaper:1710&r=law |
| By: | Gehrke, Britta; Lechthaler, Wolfgang; Merkl, Christian |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes Germany's unusual labor market experience during the Great Recession. We estimate a general equilibrium model with a detailed labor market block for post-unification Germany. This allows us to disentangle the role of institutions (short-time work, government spending rules) and shocks (aggregate, labor market, and policy shocks) and to perform counterfactual exercises. We identify positive labor market performance shocks (likely caused by labor market reforms) as the key driver for the "German labor market miracle" during the Great Recession. |
| Keywords: | Great Recession,search and matching,DSGE,short-time work,fiscal policy,business cycles,Germany |
| JEL: | E24 E32 E62 J08 J63 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iwqwdp:092017&r=law |
| By: | Shoji, Masahiro |
| Abstract: | This study employs unique household data collected in cyclone-affected communities in Bangladesh to uncover the impact of religious fractionalisation on victimization to crime after the disaster. The identification strategy relies on two natures of the study area: 1) the religious composition is stable; and 2) the pre-disaster socio-economic status of households is uncorrelated with religious fractionalisation and disaster damage, after controlling for the observed characteristics. The findings suggest that following a natural disaster, households in disaster-affected and religiously fractionalised communities are more likely to be victims than those in non-fractionalised communities. This is caused by the misallocation of disaster reliefs in fractionalised communities. |
| Keywords: | crime, religious fractionalisation, natural disaster, Bangladesh |
| JEL: | K42 O12 Z12 |
| Date: | 2017–04–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:78702&r=law |
| By: | Vrabie, Catalin; Tirziu, Andreea-Maria |
| Abstract: | The evolution of humanity is not synchronized with the one on technology. A similar technological process like the one we have already been through during the whole last century, happen between 2001 and 2015. If we are to look further, same process will happen starting from now till 2021, from 2021 to 2025… We will face, around the year 2025 such a great technological advance, that in just one single year it will equalize the whole technological advance of the 20th century. The technology advances exponentially. In the near future we will speak about: virtual monetary systems, editing the human genome, network neutrality, drones, artificial intelligence, robotics, biotechnology, neuronal implants, virtual reality and things that are not yet invented. As Ray Kurzweil (an American author, computer scientist, inventor and futurist) said in the 21 century we won’t experience just 100 years of progress but, 20.000 years if we are to take into consideration the today’s speed of the technological advance. So we have to adapt to this new era, to change the regulatory system, and to do it fast. In this article we will present shortly the evolution of Romanian e-government legal framework over time, showing how slow the whole process is and offering some examples of laws that are completely improper for what is going to happen in the future. |
| Keywords: | e-government, legal framework, electronic, regulations, laws |
| JEL: | K39 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:77703&r=law |