Putting a price on drugs: An economic sociological study of price formation in illegal drug markets

Prices in illegal drug markets are difficult to predict. Based on qualitative interviews with 68 incarcerated drug dealers in Norway, we explore dealers’ perspectives on fair prices and the processes that influence their pricing decisions. Synthesized through economic sociology, we draw on perspectives from traditions as different as behavioral economics and cultural analysis to demonstrate how participants in illicit drug distribution base their pricing decisions on institutional context, social networks, and drug market cultures. We find that dealers take institutional constraints into consideration and search for niches with high earnings and low risks. The use of transactions embedded in social networks promotes a trusting form of governance, which enables strategic network management and expedient distribution but also uncompetitive pricing. Finally, dealers’ pricing decisions are embedded in three different cultures narratives: business, friendship, and street cultural stories, with widely varying implications for prices. Our findings demonstrate how an economic sociology of illicit drug distribution can extend insights from behavioral economics and cultural studies into a coherent criminology of illegal drug markets.     

Acculturation and fear of crime among Hispanics

Fear of crime has attracted significant attention in academic research. One area that has largely been overlooked concerns fear of crime correlates among Hispanics, the largest ethnic minority group in the United States. Their unique cultural background as immigrants make them different from Non-Hispanic Whites and African Americans, and they all go through the acculturation process to some degree. However, the influence of acculturation has seldom been incorporated into the analysis. The current study attempts to use the acculturation thesis to examine two different types of fear among Hispanic residents in Houston, Texas. The findings suggest that acculturation is a significant predictor of crime-specific fear at home, but not of fear of crime in the neighborhood.     

内部控制制度与经济犯罪的信息经济学分析

在现代组织中广泛存在的委托代理关系可能诱发经济犯罪的产生,而内部控制制度因其自身特点可以监督和约束代理人的行为而抑制经济犯罪的发生。根据内部控制制度的目标要素和实施标准,从信息经济学角度分析,内部控制制度与经济犯罪有必然的因果联系,对症下药,要完善内部控制制度。     

关于企业工会开展建设职工之家活动的实践与思考——以中央企业工会为例

企业工会组织在建家活动中,首先要提高认识,增强责任感.同时,要以建设建功立业的事业之家、提高素质的学习之家、凝心聚力的民主之家和维权维稳的和谐之家为目标,通过加强工会组织建设,充分发挥其在建设职工之家活动中的重要作用.     

著作权的法经济分析范式——兼评知识产权利益平衡理论

从法经济分析的角度解释,著作权法是维护创作者与投资者经济上诱因的制度工具,虽然其客体作为无形财产,具有不同于有体财产的特殊性,但该特殊性仅体现在法律构造的具体设计上,而不能推翻法经济分析的基本预设。法经济分析中的事前分析与边际分析,以及对理性人假设与财产权功能的正确定位,都有助于使著作权更好地融入现有成熟的财产权这制度中,而不是仅仅因客体的特殊性而主张将著作权与传统财产权分离。动辄以利益平衡解决著作权法中的问题,不但无法实现平衡目标,还将导致著作权制度在效率上的缺失。     

我国开征碳税的制度经济学视角分析

碳税被国际社会公认为是削减二氧化碳排放的有效的经济手段之一,目前我国正在尝试开征碳税,本文从制度经济学视角来分析碳税及其开征的必要性,尝试提出开征碳税的正式规则和非正式规则两种制度设计。     

Juristischer Diskurs und Rechtsökonomie

Dieser Beitrag soll zeigen, dass die Rechtswissenschaft ihren Gegenstand sinnvoll erweitern kann bzw eine bereits vollzogene Erweiterung anerkennen sollte. Die Rechtsökonomie bietet einerseits ein analytisches Instrumentarium für rechtspolitische Erwägungen, andererseits lässt sich mit ihrer Hilfe untersuchen, ob eine Auslegung überhaupt geeignet ist, einen bestimmten Zweck zu erreichen. Dabei wird in Erinnerung gerufen, dass eine Unterscheidung zwischen Rechtspolitik und Rechtsdogmatik nicht eindeutig möglich ist. Die rechtsökonomische Methode erzwingt die Offenlegung solcher "nicht-juristischer" Entscheidungsgründe und fördert damit Transparenz in der Diskussion. Durch eine länderübergreifende Sprache kann sie auch einen Beitrag dazu leisten, Missverständnisse zwischen verschiedenen europäischen Rechtsordnungen zu entschärfen, die auf national geprägten Vorverständnissen beruhen und eine Harmonisierung erheblich erschweren.     

Make or buy on the Russian railway? Coase,Williamson, and Tsar Nicholas II

There is a growing consensus among economists that the most procompetitive strategy for restructuring public utility enterprises includes complete vertical separation of the network or grid portion of a sector from other parts of the sector where competition is to be created. Although exceptions to this rule are readily granted, it is generally considered that any alternative strategy may pay a high cost in terms of discriminatory access to the grid by non-integrated entrants into the new competitive sector. This consensus is somewhat surprising in light of the simultaneous growth of transactions cost economics, with its emphasis on the benefits of close vertical relationships—including vertical integration—in the face of complexity, unforeseeable contingencies, and problems with contract law enforcement. These issues are considered in the context of a Russian railways restructuring plan which may, or may not, involve complete vertical separation.

论医疗责任保险——从法律经济学的角度切入

医疗责任保险是从国外引入的一种制度,目的之初在于,将医师的过错责任诱发的巨大风险社会化,以期医师安心于治理病患,而病患通过保险获得相应的保险费用保障自身的权益,缓和较为尖锐的医患关系和社会矛盾。但医疗责任保险发展的现实情况却是极其不理想的,学界对于医疗责任改革已有基本共识,具体设计上却甚少有人提出更为细致的建议。可以从法律经济学这个分析的全新视角,借助成本效益、纳什均衡、博弈的思维进路,以期为医疗责任保险制度的设计另辟蹊径。