Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/141528 
Year of Publication: 
2016
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 9769
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
The trade-off between the immediate returns from committing a crime and the future costs of punishment depends on an offender's time discounting. We exploit quasi-experimental variation in sentence length generated by a large collective pardon in Italy and provide non-parametric evidence on the extent of discounting from the raw data on recidivism and sentence length. Using a discrete-choice model of recidivism, we estimate an average annual discount factor of 0.74, although there is heterogeneity based on age, education, crime type, and nationality. Our estimates imply that the majority of deterrence is derived from the first few years in prison.
Subjects: 
discounting
deterrence
collective pardon
recidivism
JEL: 
D9
K4
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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