DOI: 10.3886/icpsr36520.v1
title: White-Collar and Corporate Frauds: Understanding and Measuring Public Policy Preferences [United States], 2015
title: Version 1

description: These data are part of NACJD's Fast Track Release and are distributed as they were received from the data depositor. The files have been zipped by NACJD for release, but not checked or processed except for the removal of direct identifiers. Users should refer to the accompanying readme file for a brief description of the files available with this collection and consult the investigator(s) if further information is needed.
This study contains data from an on-line national survey of 2,050 respondents aged 18+. The data were collected to provide new policy-relevant evidence on the public's attitude towards white-collar and corporate frauds by asking questions about the public's willingness to pay for reducing white-collar crimes when provided information about the estimate of financial losses, context and seriousness. Further, the study quantifies public perceptions of seriousness link to specific policy preferences.
This study includes one STATA data file: Formatted_WTP_Dataset_11-10-16.dta (138 variables, 2050 cases).
description: The purpose of this study was to provide policy-relevant evidence on the public's attitudes towards white-collar and corporate frauds.
Specifically, the study addressed these research questions:

Do financial losses fully capture the true cost of white-collar crimes, as measured by the public willingness to pay to reduce them? ; 
Does public willingness to pay for reducing certain white-collar crimes depend on the context such as the offender or victim?; 
Does public willingness to pay vary in terms of individuals' knowledge of the crime and how its consequences are framed?; 
How seriously does the general public view white-collar offenses compared to other crimes?;
description: In this survey, respondents were asked a series of questions about four different crimes: consumer fraud,
financial fraud, burglary, and the fraudulent use of stolen personal identity.  For each time of crime, respondents were asked to provide a dollar amount that they would be willing to pay each year for several programs with varying policy components, with the goal of reducing the number of victimizations and the harm caused by crime.
In addition, respondents were asked how serious they viewed examples of white collar crimes, in comparison to a standard described burglary.
Last, information was collected on actual and perceived victimization risks.
description: This study includes one stata file: Formatted_WTP_Dataset_11-10-16.dta, and consists of 138 variables and 2,050 cases.
There are three main groups of variables:

Rating of crime seriousness; 
Questions regarding actual and perceived victimizations of crime as well as respondent knowledge of and participation in activities that may affect the risk of victimization; 
Willingness-to-pay to reduce these crimes;
description: Presence of Common Scales: 
					Several Likert Scales were used.
description: Response Rates: 
					Survey response rate: 56%.
description: Datasets: 
					
						DS1: Dataset
description: web-based survey
description: KnowledgePanel survey of representative U.S. sample (oversample of Hispanics)
				   		Smallest Geographic Unit: State
description: The target population consisted of non-institutionalized adults age 18 and over residing in the United States (Both Spanish-speaking and English-speaking survey takers).To sample the population, GfK sampled households from its KnowledgePanel, a probability-based web panel designed to be representative of the United States. The survey consisted of the main survey with the study-eligible respondents. To qualify for the main survey, a panel member must have been:

Either Spanish or English Language Survey Takers; 
Age 18 or older; 
A resident of the United States, as determined by KnowledgePanel Profile Data;