Crime scars: recessions and the making of career criminals

Brian Bell, Anna Bindler and Stephen Machin

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: Recessions lead to short-term job loss, lower happiness, and decreasing income levels. There is growing evidence that workers who first join the labor market during economic downturns suffer from poor job matches that can have sustained detrimental effects on wages and career progressions. This paper uses U.S. and U.K. data to document a more disturbing long-run effect of recessions: young people who leave school during recessions are significantly more likely to lead a life of crime than those entering a buoyant labor market. Thus, crime scars resulting from higher entry-level unemployment rates prove to be long lasting and substantial.

Keywords: Crime; Recessions; Unemployment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J64 K42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018-07-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-law and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (37)

Published in Review of Economics and Statistics, 9, July, 2018, 100(3), pp. 392-404. ISSN: 0034-6535

Downloads: (external link)
http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/89715/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Crime Scars: Recessions and the Making of Career Criminals (2018)
Working Paper: Crime Scars: Recessions and the Making of Career Criminals (2015)
Working Paper: Crime Scars: Recessions and the Making of Career Criminals (2014)
Working Paper: Crime scars: recessions and the making of career criminals (2014)
Working Paper: Crime Scars: Recessions and the Making of Career Criminals (2014)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:89715

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