Forensic economics

Ray Fisman writes on Slate about the CIA interventions and trade paper being part of the "relatively young field of forensic economics, which aims to shed light on shadowy corners of the economic world that trade in much speculation but few verifiable facts. Forensic economists have applied their analytic techniques to expose shenanigans ranging from vote-trading by Olympic figure skating judges to insider trading to political favor-seeking by companies in America and around the world. All of this work is based on the insight that backroom deals and illicit transactions often leave traces in the data, which creative researchers can find".

Eric Zitzewitz is preparing a literature review for the JEL. He writes that we now have evidence on teachers cheating on exams, road builders skimping on materials, violations of UN sanctions, unnecessary heart surgeries, and racial biases in employment decisions, traffic stops, auto retailing, and even sports judging.

My three favourite papers in the field remain:

• Duggan and Levitt (2002) "Winning Isn't Everything: Corruption in Sumo Wrestling," AER
• Fisman and Wei (2004) “Tax Rates and Tax Evasion: Evidence from missing imports in China,” JPE
• Fisman and Miguel (2007) “Corruption, Norms and Legal Enforcement: Evidence from Diplomatic Parking Tickets,” JPE