ABSTRACT
The neoclassical economics of crime (NEC), stemming chiefly from Gary Becker’s groundbreaking 1968 paper, 1 is perhaps the most ambitious undertaking within the larger program of law and economics. Property law and contract law are more obvious areas of the law to which economics can be applied, because their subject matter is to a large extent pecuniary to begin with. Even tort law, which deals with “private wrongs,” often concentrates on damage to property or financial interests, which again can easily be stated in terms of money. Once the costs and benefits of various legal rules and institutions in these areas are put in terms of dollars and cents, the analyst can apply economic reasoning to maximize efficiency, wealth, or well-being, the standard policy goal of normative law and economics (and normative neoclassical economics in general).
