ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with an emphasis on the fundamental cause of economic offenses, the desire to acquire money and goods, and the ability and willingness to use illegal means to achieve that end. Increases in shoplifting during periods of economic recession and especially in times of inflation are employed to verify anomie and strain theory insights. A cartoon makes fun of an attitude that can give rise to economic crime in the business world. Automobile theft illustrates the relationship between possessions and property crime. Richard Wright and colleagues reported on the changing nature of crime attributed to the transition from a cash-based economy to one based on electronic transfers. The usual response is that most definitions in criminology are ideological and that the study of crime is a reformist enterprise. Criminologists seek to understand crime and wrongdoing in order to reduce it, whether by reforming the social system or the individual.
