Youth Unemployment and Crime in France

Denis Fougere (), Francis Kramarz () and Julien POUGET

No 5600, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: In this paper we examine the influence of unemployment on property crimes and on violent crimes in France for the period 1990 to 2000. This analysis is the first extensive study for this country. We construct a regional-level data set (for the 95 départements of metropolitan France) with measures of crimes as reported to the Ministry of Interior. To assess social conditions prevailing in the département in that year, we construct measures of the unemployment rate as well as other social, economic and demographic variables using multiple waves of the French Labor Survey. We estimate a classic Becker type model in which unemployment is a measure of how potential criminals fare in the legitimate job market. First, our estimates show that in the cross-section dimension, crime and unemployment are positively associated. Second, we find that increases in youth unemployment induce increases in crime. Using the predicted industrial structure to instrument unemployment, we show that this effect is causal for burglaries, thefts, and drug offences. To combat crime, it appears thus that all strategies designed to combat youth unemployment should be examined.

Keywords: crime; youth unemployment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J19 J64 J65 K42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-law, nep-reg, nep-soc and nep-ure
Date: 2006-04

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Related works:
Working Paper: Youth Unemployment and Crime in France (2007)
Working Paper: Youth Unemployment and Crime in France (2006)
Journal Article: Youth Unemployment and Crime in France (2009)
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