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CRIME AND POVERTY: A SEARCH-THEORETIC APPROACH

Chien-Chieh Huang, Derek Laing and Ping Wang

International Economic Review, 2004, vol. 45, issue 3, 909-938

Abstract: Numerous studies document that criminal activity is positively related to unemployment and negatively related to educational attainment levels within given communities. We study this phenomenon in the context of a search-equilibrium model, in which agents choose between formal employment and pursuing crime-related activities (theft). Prior to their "occupational choices," agents undertake costly schooling, raising their productivity. Crime acts, in essence, as a tax on human capital by affecting the probability that a worker's earnings (possessions) are subsequently appropriated. There are multiple equilibria. High crime, low levels of educational attainment, long spells of unemployment, and poverty are correlated across them. Copyright 2004 by the Economics Department Of The University Of Pennsylvania And Osaka University Institute Of Social And Economic Research Association.

Date: 2004
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International Economic Review is currently edited by Harold L. Cole

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