caa a22 4500 445829850 CHVBK 20180317145310.0 cr unu---uuuuu 170323e20110601xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s10657-010-9172-0 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s10657-010-9172-0 The scope of punishment: an economic theory [Elektronische Daten] [Nuno Garoupa, Marie Obidzinski] The harm caused by many acts is not certain but probabilistic. Current public enforcement of the law combines harm-based sanctions (usually in criminal law) with act-based sanctions (very common in administrative law and regulation). We propose an economic theory of the choice between harm-based and act-based sanctions in public enforcement. The efficiency of act-based versus harm-based sanctions is analyzed and a typology of the determinants is drawn up. Our model suggests that harm-based sanctions are more efficient when (1) acquiring information about the act is important, (2) engaging in harm avoidance activities is advisable, (3) judgment-proofness is not a very significant problem, (4) punishment is especially costly, (5) changes in law are expensive or difficult to negotiate and (6) on average, potential criminals are better informed than the government about losses for society. Legal policy implications are discussed. Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, 2010 Harm-based sanction nationallicence Act-based sanction nationallicence Uncertain harm nationallicence Law enforcement nationallicence Garoupa Nuno University of Illinois College of Law, 504 East Pennsylvania Avenue, 61820, Champaign, IL, USA aut Obidzinski Marie Université de Franche-Comté - CRESE, 30, Avenue de l'Observatoire, 25009, Besançon Cedex, France aut European Journal of Law and Economics Springer US; http://www.springer-ny.com 31/3(2011-06-01), 237-247 0929-1261 31:3<237 2011 31 10657 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10657-010-9172-0 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10657-010-9172-0 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Garoupa Nuno University of Illinois College of Law, 504 East Pennsylvania Avenue, 61820, Champaign, IL, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Obidzinski Marie Université de Franche-Comté - CRESE, 30, Avenue de l'Observatoire, 25009, Besançon Cedex, France aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- European Journal of Law and Economics Springer US; http://www.springer-ny.com 31/3(2011-06-01), 237-247 0929-1261 31:3<237 2011 31 10657 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence SWISSBIB 126067511 BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer