Today, outlaw motorcycle gangs are best known for their involvement in an international criminal network dealing in narcotics, human trafficking, and arms smuggling. Law enforcement agencies in three continents have identified groups like the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, the Outlaws Motorcycle Club, and the Bandidos Motorcycle Club as a major threat to public safety. Before their descent into organized crime, outlaw bikers captured the imagination of the American public due to their peculiar look and outrageous behavior. They dressed in dirty sleeveless leather jackets and Nazi paraphernalia, their arms covered in tattoos of Nazi and White-supremacist symbolism. They drove highly customized, loud, and heavy American bikes—almost always Harley-Davidsons—and despised Japanese vehicles. They were notorious for their erratic behavior, in particular, the propensity to use violence in an idiosyncratic way when interacting with non-bikers and the public display of nudity and sexual practices. Unlike standard treatments of outlaw bikers, which draw from criminology, sociology, and psychology, I propose an explanation for these seemingly irrational and certainly odd practices rooted on the economic approach. Following the literature on the economic theory of religious sects, I argue that these odd practices served as effective obstacles to the ability of outlaw bikers to free ride on the club goods provided by these organizations.

中文翻译：

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亡命之徒和经济学：骑自行车的团伙和俱乐部商品

今天，非法摩托车团伙因参与涉及毒品、人口贩运和武器走私的国际犯罪网络而闻名。三大洲的执法机构已将地狱天使摩托车俱乐部、歹徒摩托车俱乐部和 Bandidos 摩托车俱乐部等组织确定为对公共安全的主要威胁。在陷入有组织的犯罪之前，非法骑自行车的人因其奇特的外表和粗暴的行为而引起了美国公众的想象。他们穿着肮脏的无袖皮夹克和纳粹用具，手臂上布满了纳粹和白人至上主义象征主义的纹身。他们开着高度定制的、响亮的、沉重的美国自行车——几乎总是哈雷戴维森——并且鄙视日本汽车。他们因行为古怪而臭名昭著，尤其是，与非骑自行车的人互动时以特殊方式使用暴力的倾向，以及公开展示裸体和性行为。与从犯罪学、社会学和心理学中汲取的对非法骑自行车者的标准待遇不同，我提出了对这些植根于经济方法的看似不合理且当然很奇怪的做法的解释。根据有关宗教教派经济理论的文献，我认为这些奇怪的做法有效地阻碍了非法骑自行车的人乘坐这些组织提供的俱乐部商品的能力。我对这些植根于经济方法的看似不合理且当然很奇怪的做法提出了一个解释。根据有关宗教教派经济理论的文献，我认为这些奇怪的做法有效地阻碍了非法骑自行车的人乘坐这些组织提供的俱乐部商品的能力。我对这些植根于经济方法的看似不合理且当然很奇怪的做法提出了一个解释。根据有关宗教教派经济理论的文献，我认为这些奇怪的做法有效地阻碍了非法骑自行车的人乘坐这些组织提供的俱乐部商品的能力。