The document outlines plans for a book about Al Capone and the economics of crime in Chicago during Prohibition. It will use economic theory to explain Capone's decisions and rise to power by supplying illegal alcohol. The book will provide an economic history of Chicago leading up to Prohibition and analyze how the political and economic environment enabled Capone's success. It will draw on data sources like homicide records, IRS documents, newspaper archives, and census data to empirically analyze topics like supply and demand, market power, and the relationship between organized crime and homicide rates during this era.
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Gangster Spirits: Economic History of Chicago and the Al Capone Era
2. Capone the economist
“I am like any other man. All I do is supply a demand.”
“I have built my organization upon fear.”
“You can get more with a kind word and a gun than you can
with a kind word alone.”
“Capitalism is the legitimate racket of the ruling class.”
3. Plans for book
? Biography Capone’s life, particularly his time in Chicago prior going to
prison in 1932 (Atlanta then Alcatraz), using economics to explain
decisions and actions; rise and fall of Capone empire
? Economics of crime, opportunity costs, market power and barriers to entry,
“Bootleggers and Baptists”, supply and demand, crony capitalism, etc.
? Use theory and provide empirical analyses
? While also
? Providing an economic history of Chicago and its citizens leading up to and
throughout Prohibition
? Explaining the political and economic environment making Capone’s
rise to power and wealth possible
4. Resources
DATA
? Skogan’s “Chicago since 1840: A
time-series data handbook”
? Chicago Historical Homicide
Project (Northwestern University)
FILES/TEXTS
? IRS documents
? FBI documents
? Chicago Tribune archives
? Books (Schoenberg, Kobler, Eig)
? Journal articles
? “Social Scientists Map Chicago”
? ChicagoinMaps.com
? Ancestry.com
Gangster Spirits
5. Example: Chicago Historical Homicide Project
? Sequential text file and quantitative database from Chicago Police
Department Homicide Record Index from handwritten records (over
11,000 cases between 1870 and 1930)
? Supplement with other sources for details (Chicago Tribune
archives, Illinois Crime Index, CHHP interactive database)