Does crime type matter in understanding the nexus between universal credit and crime? Evidence from England and Wales

R Pickering and King Yoong Lim

Economic Issues Journal Articles, 2024, vol. 29, issue 1, 93-131

Abstract: Motivated by a seemingly negative correlation between universal credit and crime in England and Wales, we present a novel theoretical framework of crime and welfare spending, where crime-specific human capital-induced heterogeneity exists between criminal activities. This provides a theoretical basis to three empirically testable propositions. We evaluate these using county-level data for 10 different crime types. We find significant heterogeneity across different crime types in affecting the crime-universal credit nexus. Notably, criminal damage and arson exhibit both positive level and introductory effects, implying these to be human capital dependent, whereas public disorder and weapons possession exhibit a negative crime-universal credit nexus.

Keywords: Crime Heterogeneity; Crime-welfare spending nexus; England and Wales; Universal credit; Welfare spending (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C26 H53 H75 K42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Related works:
Working Paper: Crime Heterogeneity and Welfare Spending Theory and Empirical Evidence based on the Universal Credit System (2020)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eis:articl:124pickering

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