Based on unique data on individual bank robberies perpetrated in Italy between 2005 and 2007, this paper estimates the distribution of criminals' disutility of jail. The identification rests on the money versus risk trade-off criminals face when deciding whether to stay an additional minute...

Using unique data on criminal profiles of 800 US Mafia members active in the 50s and 60s and on their connections within the Cosa Nostra network we analyze how the geometry of criminal ties between mobsters depends on family ties, community roots and ties, legal and illegal activities. We...

Using declassified Federal Bureau of Narcotics records on 800 US Mafia mem- bers active in the 1950s and 1960s, and on their connections within the organized crime network, I estimate network effects on gangsters’ economic status. Lacking information on criminal proceeds, I measure economic...

The aim of this paper is to describe a method to introduce empirical data in agent based models. Starting from the econometric and calibration literature, it is shown how to select the values of the parameters in the model and which conditions has to be met to have consistent estimations. A...

What is the relationship, if any, between Experimental Economics and Agent-based Computational Economics? Experimental Economics (EXP) investigates individual behaviour (and the emergence of aggregate regularities) by means of human subject experiments. Agent-based Computational Economics (ACE),...

This paper presents a non-equilibrium, agent-based model of workers and firms, with on-the-job searching, endogenous entrepreneurial decisions and endogenous wage and income determination. Workers and firms are heterogeneous, and learn their strategy in the labor market. The model is able to...

An urn-ball probabilistic model of the labour market is developed. Agents can be employed, (voluntary or involuntary) unemployed or entrepreneurs. The analytical long run equilibrium probabilities for each state and the matching function are derived. Then, the out-of-equilibrium dynamics are...

Multiplicative models of firm dynamics ‘à la Gibrat’ have become a standard reference in industrial organization. However, some unpleasant properties of their implied dynamics – namely, their explosive or implosive behaviour (firm size and number collapsing to zero or increasing...

In this paper I review the main strengths and weaknesses of agent-based computational models. In particular I rationalise the main theoretical critiques, which point to the following problematic areas: (i) interpretation of the simulation dynamics, (ii) estimation of the simulation model, and...

In July 2003 a new Road Code was approved by the Italian parliament. Among many reforms whose validity is not questioned here, the new law states that on three-lane motorways the right lane should not be reserved anymore to slow vehicles alone. As in two-lane roads, all vehicles must now drive...