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Publications
  • 2017
  • Working Paper

The Effectiveness of White-Collar Crime Enforcement: Evidence from the War on Terror

By: Trung Nguyen
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
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Abstract

This paper studies the deterrent effect of criminal enforcement on white-collar criminal activities. Using the 9/11 terrorist attacks as a shock to the FBI’s allocation of investigative resources and priorities, and variations in the Muslim population in the United States as a measure of geographic variations in the shock, I examine two questions: (1) Does the bureau’s shift to counter-terrorism investigations after 9/11 lead to a reduction in the enforcement of laws targeting white-collar crime? (2) Does white-collar crime increase as a result of less oversight? Using a difference-in-differences estimation approach, I find that there is a significantly greater reduction in white-collar criminal cases referred by FBI field offices that shift their investigative focus away from white-collar crime to counter-terrorism. I also find that areas overseen by FBI field offices that shift their attention from white-collar crime to counter-terrorism experience a significantly greater increase in wire fraud, illegal insider trading activities, and fraud within financial institutions.

Keywords

Regulation; Fraud; White-collar Crime; Enforcement; Crime and Corruption; Law Enforcement; System Shocks

Citation

Nguyen, Trung. "The Effectiveness of White-Collar Crime Enforcement: Evidence from the War on Terror." Working Paper.
  • SSRN

About The Author

Trung Nguyen

Accounting and Management
→More Publications

More from the Author

    • January 2022 (Revised March 2022)
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    Financial Reporting at Mattel

    By: Aiyesha Dey, Trung Nguyen and Marshal Herrmann
    • October 2021
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    Financial Reporting at Mattel

    By: Aiyesha Dey, Trung Nguyen, Marshal Herrmann and Julia Kelley
    • 2021
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    Once Bitten, Twice Shy: Learning from Corporate Fraud and Corporate Governance Spillovers

    By: Trung Nguyen
More from the Author
  • Financial Reporting at Mattel By: Aiyesha Dey, Trung Nguyen and Marshal Herrmann
  • Financial Reporting at Mattel By: Aiyesha Dey, Trung Nguyen, Marshal Herrmann and Julia Kelley
  • Once Bitten, Twice Shy: Learning from Corporate Fraud and Corporate Governance Spillovers By: Trung Nguyen
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