Economic Crime as Hiding Behavior

Oskar Engdahl

American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 2009, vol. 68, issue 3, pages 747-773

Abstract: The article introduces "hiding behavior" as a concept for understanding why people conceal economic problems and solve them by committing crimes. This concept's theoretical purport, empirical applicability, and relevance for the research area are considered through an analysis of an empirical case. An explanatory model is then developed, focusing on the concrete social relations in which hiding behavior originates and in which it remains embedded. From case studies we see how hiding behavior is situated in social relations characterized by a specific form of uncertainty arising from engulfment and isolation. In these relations money plays a central role, providing a medium for action-coordination essential in the incidence of economic crime. Finally, the explanatory power of the proposed conceptual model is discussed, with several possible refinements suggested for it. Copyright © 2009 American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Inc..

Date: 2009

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/servlet/useragent ... &year=2009&part=null link to full text (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:ajecsc:v:68:y:2009:i:3:p:747-773

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.blackwell ... bs.asp?ref=0002-9246

Access Statistics for this article

American Journal of Economics and Sociology is edited by Laurence S. Moss

More articles in American Journal of Economics and Sociology from Blackwell Publishing
Series data maintained by Christopher F. Baum ().