Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book presents a collection of research papers on the theme of illicit activity, all written by either members or associate members of the Public Sector Economics Research Centre in the Department of Economics at the University of Leicester. There are two aspects of illicit activity to which economists can contribute. First, in dealing with the problems which illicit activity creates, government agencies use a great deal of resources and it is an economic issue about how much resource should be put into dealing with these problems. Second, the decision to engage in illicit activities can be viewed as an economic one about how individuals allocate their time to competing activities, some of which are risky i.e. you might get caught and punished. The economic approach to participation in illicit activities was first advanced by the American economist Gary Becker.