Down and Out in Italian Towns: Measuring the Impact of Economic Downturns on Crime

Carlo Menon () and Guido de Blasio

SERC Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Performance, LSE

Abstract: The paper investigates the effect of local economic conditions on crime. The study focuses on Italy's local labor markets and analyzes the short-term response of crime to the severe slump of 2007-2009. It shows that the downturn led to a significant increase in economic-related offenses that do not require particular criminal skills or tools (namely, thefts); on the other hand, for offenses for which specific skills and criminal experience are essential (say, robberies) the impact of the crisis was negative. The results also suggest that: i) labor market institutions (i.e. wage supplementary schemes and pro-worker contractual arrangements) had a role in slowing down the effect of the economy on crime; ii) the link between the downturn and crime was weaker in areas where the presence of organized crime is relatively more intensive.

Keywords: crime; economic crises; Italy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E32 K14 K42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur and nep-law
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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http://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/sercdp0137.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Down and out in Italian towns: Measuring the impact of economic downturns on crime (2016)
Working Paper: Down and out in Italian towns: measuring the impact of economic downturns on crime (2013)
Working Paper: Down and Out in Italian towns: measuring the impact of economic downturns on crime (2013)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cep:sercdp:secdp0137

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