Punishing Financial Crimes: The Impact of Prison Sentences on Defendants and Their Colleagues
利用芬兰法官随机分配机制，研究发现监禁判决使金融犯罪被告三年内再犯率降低42.9个百分点，并使其同事犯罪概率降低27个百分点，表明严厉惩罚具有更广泛的威慑效应。
Financial crimes are costly to society but less severely punished than other nonviolent crimes. We investigate whether prison sentences reduce financial crimes. Using random assignment of judges in Finland to identify causal impacts, we find a prison sentence reduces defendant reoffending by 42.9 percentage points three years postsentencing. Given prior evidence of financial misconduct “contagion,” we also explore spillovers on colleagues. A prison sentence reduces the likelihood that a financial crime defendant’s colleagues commit crimes by 27 percentage points, suggesting broader deterrent effects of harsher punishments, but only for fraud cases. Last, we show financial crimes are not victimless crimes.