Unemployment and Crime: Is There a Connection?

Karin Edmark ()

Scandinavian Journal of Economics, 2005, vol. 107, issue 2, pages 353-373

Abstract: A panel of Swedish counties over the years 1988-1999 is used to study the effects of unemployment on property crime rates. The period under study is characterized by turbulence in the labor market-the variation in unemployment rates was unprecedented in the latter part of the century. Hence, the data provide a unique opportunity to examine unemployment effects. According to the theory of economics of crime, increased unemployment rates lead to higher property crime rates. A fixed-effects model is estimated to investigate this hypothesis. The model includes time- and county-specific effects and a number of economic and socio-demographic variables to control for unobservables and covariates. The results show that unemployment had a positive and significant effect on some property crimes (burglary, car theft and bike theft). Copyright The editors of the "Scandinavian Journal of Economics", 2005 .

Date: 2005
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Scandinavian Journal of Economics is edited by Jonas Agell, Nils Gottfries and Espen R. Moen

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