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Politics and white collar crime: Explaining government intervention in the Savings and Loan Scandal

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Abstract

The Savings and Loan Scandal of the 1980s was the biggest crime ever perpetrated in the United States. While several studies have examined the causes of the crime (e.g., deregulation, increase of insurance coverage to $100,000, fluctuations in the economic markets, greed), few scholars to date have studied state intervention in the industry after the crime had been committed. We explore the questions of when and how state managers intervene in the actions of the powerful by supplementing state theory with the literature on the social construction of social problems.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Criminal Justice, Sam Houston State University, 77341-2296, TX, Huntsville

    Jurg Gerber

  2. University of Idaho, Idaho, USA

    Eric L. Jensen

  3. University of North Texas, Texas, USA

    Eric J. Fritsch

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  1. Jurg Gerber
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  2. Eric L. Jensen
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  3. Eric J. Fritsch
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Gerber, J., Jensen, E.L. & Fritsch, E.J. Politics and white collar crime: Explaining government intervention in the Savings and Loan Scandal. Critical Criminology 7, 59–73 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02461114

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