University of Chicago

This dissertation presents empirical evidence on three previously overlooked aspects of the economics of crime. The first essays observes that pawnshops serve the credit needs of low-income individuals and consequently are located in higher crime communities. However, pawnshops are often suspected of being outlets for stolen property and if so, they may stimulate criminal activity. To break this simultaneity, this paper uses usury laws as instrumental variables to identify the causal effect of pawnshops on crime.

This work examines the state ownership and legal classification of arable land, particularly focusing on changes to the landholding system of Egypt during the late Ottoman period initiated by the Ottoman Land Code of 1858 and of Khedive Sa'id's Law. Why was a separate land code established for Egypt, and how closely are the Egyptian reforms of the mid-19th century related to the Ottoman Code of Law? Changes to the Ottoman landholding system were part of an evolutionary process and did not lead to the privatization of miri, state-owned arable land.