Solution Manual For Economics of Crime and Enforcement Anthony Second Edition, 2025 By M. Yezer Answers to Problems and Exercises Chapter 1: Problems and Exercises 1. In rural areas, individuals can set out targets in the back of their homes and shoot at them with a rifle or pistol without violating any criminal statutes. However, they have civil liability for any damage done to property of others. In cities and suburbs, it is generally a violation of criminal law to discharge a firearm on your own private property even if the weapon is pointed straight down into the ground and can do no damage. Is there an economic rationale for the disparity of treatment of firearms between rural and urban areas? Discharging a firearm in an urban or suburban area creates far larger externalities than the same action in a rural area. Greater population density means that more individuals hear and are potentially harmed by a gun shot. In rural areas, there are large tracts of land where and individual may shoot without endangering anyone who is not on that individual’s private property. Just as the externality rises with population density, so does the likelihood that discharge of a weapon will be regarded as a violation of criminal law. This is consistent with analysis of the economics of criminalization. 2. Gambling on table games such as craps, blackjack, and roulette is legal in some places and illegal under the criminal law in others. What economic arguments would be made by an economist to support legalization? What are the critical economic issues that need to be evaluated in order to support or reject criminalization of table stakes gambling? Economists would begin with the observation that gambling generally involves the voluntary interaction of private individuals. The gambling contract can be enforced under the civil law in the same manner as other contracts. There is a limited literature in economics about neighborhood externalities associated with casinos due to the behavior of patrons. This could be the object of economic research and properly addressed with zoning regulations. The externalities associated with gambling when it is made illegal could be the object of economic research. 3. Clubs and fraternities sometimes have “hazing” ceremonies in which individuals go through an initiation that involves paddling, and other forms of rough physical treatment in which may result in injuries. What economic arguments would support legalization of such hazing? What are the critical economic issues that need to be evaluated in order to support or reject criminalization of hazing? The economic argument concerns the lack of externalities associated with hazing provided that it is not conducted in public. If potential members are aware of the rough physical treatment when then pledge a fraternity, the subsequent hazing can be considered a matter of contract. This is a critical economic issue because, in some cases, the nature of hazing is not revealed. Indeed the secrecy of the initiation
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