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Unemployment and Crime - Exploring the Link in Times of Crises

Almén, Daniel LU (2011) NEKK01 20111
Department of Economics
Abstract
Theories of Economics of Crime suggest that the unemployment rate should influence the crime rates and especially property crime rates. In this paper I investigate the effect of three different types of unemployment on crime rates (total unemployment (age 16-64), youth unemployment (age 18-24) and long-term unemployment (age 20-64)). Although theory is mostly applicable on property crimes I also include some violent crimes. I examine the proposed link by using a panel data set of 288 Swedish municipalities for the period of 1997-2009. The time period exhibits large variations in the unemployment rates, which offers a good opportunity to isolate the unemployment effect. In this paper I find evidence of an association between unemployment... (More)
Theories of Economics of Crime suggest that the unemployment rate should influence the crime rates and especially property crime rates. In this paper I investigate the effect of three different types of unemployment on crime rates (total unemployment (age 16-64), youth unemployment (age 18-24) and long-term unemployment (age 20-64)). Although theory is mostly applicable on property crimes I also include some violent crimes. I examine the proposed link by using a panel data set of 288 Swedish municipalities for the period of 1997-2009. The time period exhibits large variations in the unemployment rates, which offers a good opportunity to isolate the unemployment effect. In this paper I find evidence of an association between unemployment and crime. In the Baseline Model, total unemployment seems to have a significant effect on mainly property crimes. Youth unemployment exhibits a weaker relationship overall but with a significant effect on burglary and narcotic crimes. When investigating long-term unemployment I find it to have a significant effect on both violent crimes and property crimes. This reveals a possible discrepancy between reality and basic theory, which suggests a correlation between unemployment and property crimes only. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Almén, Daniel LU
supervisor
organization
course
NEKK01 20111
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
Unemployment, Crime, Panel Data
language
English
id
1971430
date added to LUP
2011-06-14 14:42:32
date last changed
2011-06-14 14:42:32
@misc{1971430,
  abstract     = {{Theories of Economics of Crime suggest that the unemployment rate should influence the crime rates and especially property crime rates. In this paper I investigate the effect of three different types of unemployment on crime rates (total unemployment (age 16-64), youth unemployment (age 18-24) and long-term unemployment (age 20-64)). Although theory is mostly applicable on property crimes I also include some violent crimes. I examine the proposed link by using a panel data set of 288 Swedish municipalities for the period of 1997-2009. The time period exhibits large variations in the unemployment rates, which offers a good opportunity to isolate the unemployment effect. In this paper I find evidence of an association between unemployment and crime. In the Baseline Model, total unemployment seems to have a significant effect on mainly property crimes. Youth unemployment exhibits a weaker relationship overall but with a significant effect on burglary and narcotic crimes. When investigating long-term unemployment I find it to have a significant effect on both violent crimes and property crimes. This reveals a possible discrepancy between reality and basic theory, which suggests a correlation between unemployment and property crimes only.}},
  author       = {{Almén, Daniel}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Unemployment and Crime - Exploring the Link in Times of Crises}},
  year         = {{2011}},
}