Using Laboratory Experiments to Study Law and Crime - Chair of ...

ENDNOTES1. A similar argument can be made regarding the experimental setting. The question is whetherthe characteristics of the experimental setting interact with the theoretical causal factors.2. The comparison of Southerner and Northerners does not involve a true experimentalmanipulation because whether the subject was a Southerner or a Northerner was notmanipulated. Similarly, researchers cannot manipulate the race or gender of the subject – thoughthey can manipulate theoretically relevant aspects of race, gender, and so forth (for an examplein the context of race see Lovaglia et al. 1998).3. For reviews of deterrence research see Doob and Webster (2003); Maguire (2002), Nagin(1989), and Tierney (1996).4. The underlying mechanism is the game theoretical concept of ``mixed Nash equilibria'', whichrequires rational agents to outsmart their opponents. This concept assumes that citizens choosethe probability of committing a crime at the indifference point of the inspectors and inspectorschoose the probability of inspection at the indifference point of the criminals (see Rauhut andJunker 2009; Tsebelis1989; 1990). This implies that more severe punishment reduces controlrather than crime.33