Papers
The Political Economy of Criminal Governance. Public Choice. 2024.
Resizing Sykes: Ian O’Donnell in conversation with David Skarbek. Incarceration. Volume 5, January-April 2024.
Vigilantism and Institutions: Understanding Attitudes toward Lynching in Brazil. With Danilo Freire. Research and Politics. 2023.
Analytic Narratives in Political Economy. With Emily Skarbek. History of Political Economy. 2023.
The Organization of Danish Gangs: A Transaction Cost Approach. With Stefan Sløk-Madsen, Andreas Hansen, and Alexander Rezaei. Trends in Organized Crime. 2021.
The Evolution of Norms within a Society of Captives. With Chad Seagren. Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination. 2021.
Institutional Design and Elite Support for Climate Policies. With Danilo Freire and Umberto Mignozzetti. Journal of Experimental Political Science. 2021.
Qualitative Research Methods for Institutional Analysis. Journal of Institutional Economics. 2020.
Lead article, with three comments published in response.
Shortlisted for the 2021 Elinor Ostrom Prize from the World Interdisciplinary Network for Institutional Research.
Winner of the 2020 Best Article Prize from the Society for the Development of Austrian Economics.
Covenants without the Sword? Comparing Prison Self-Governance Globally. American Political Science Review. 2016.
Criminal Rituals. With Peng Wang. Global Crime. 2015.
Prison Gangs and the Community Responsibility System. With M. Garrett Roth. Review of Behavioral Economics. 2014.
The Effect of Prison Gang Membership on Recidivism. With Brendan Dooley and Alan Seals. Journal of Criminal Justice. 2014.
Why Didn’t Slaves Revolt More Often During the Middle Passage? With Andrew Marcum. Rationality & Society. 2014.
The Governance Institutions of a Drug Trafficking Organization. With James Kostelnik. Public Choice. 2013.
The Industrial Organization of Street Gangs. With Russell Sobel. Journal of Gang Research. 2012.
Anarchy, Groups, and Conflict: An Experiment on the Emergence of Protective Associations. With Adam Smith and Bart Wilson. Social Choice & Welfare. 2012.
Prison Gangs, Norms, and Organizations. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization. 2012.
Winner of a 2015 Emerald Citation of Excellence Award for outstanding research from the Emerald Publishing Group.
Winner of the 2013 Best Article Prize from the Society for the Development of Austrian Economics.
Sweatshops, Opportunity Costs, and Non-Monetary Compensation: Evidence from El Salvador. With Emily Skarbek, Brian Skarbek, and Erin Skarbek. American Journal of Economics & Sociology. 2012.
Governance and Prison Gangs. American Political Science Review. 2011.
Reprinted in The Economics of Governance. Edited by Donald Wittman. Edward Elgar Publisher, 2016.
Reprinted in Transnational Organized Crime. Edited by James Sheptycki. Sage Publications, 2014.
Putting the ‘Con’ into Constitutions: The Economics of Prison Gangs. Journal of Law, Economics, & Organization. 2010.
Criminal Constitutions. With Peter Leeson. Global Crime. 2010.
Self-Governance in San Pedro Prison. The Independent Review. 2010.
Sweatshops Wages and Third World Living Standards: Are the Jobs Worth the Sweat? With Benjamin Powell. Journal of Labor Research. 2006.