Skill-Biased Technological Change, Earnings of Unskilled Workers, and Crime

Mocan Naci () and Bulent Unel ()
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Mocan Naci: Department of Economics, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA; National Bureau of Economic Research, 1050 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge MA 02138-5398, USA; IZA Institute of Labor Economics, Schaumburg-Lippe-Straße 5-9, 53113 Bonn, Germany

Review of Law & Economics, 2017, vol. 13, issue 3, 46

Abstract: This paper investigates the impact of unskilled workers’ earnings on crime. We create indexes of skill-biased technological change which vary by state and year, or by state, year, and industry. These indexes are used as instruments for earnings in crime regressions. We analyze US state panels, and also run structural crime equations using micro panel data from NLSY97. Estimated elasticities are markedly larger than those obtained by previous studies. Considering technology being adopted at the regional level does not alter the results appreciably. We also find evidence for asymmetric impact of unskilled workers’ earnings on crime.

Keywords: technological change; earnings; low-skill workers (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Working Paper: Skill-biased Technological Change, Earnings of Unskilled Workers, and Crime (2011)
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DOI: 10.1515/rle-2016-0017

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