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The thief’s wages: theft and human capital development

Geoffrey Williams
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Geoffrey Williams and Geoffrey Fain Williams ()

Oxford Economic Papers, 2018, vol. 70, issue 2, 443-467

Abstract: In this paper, a model is developed to investigate whether theft can be economically rational. It is shown that heterogeneity in capital accumulation rates (or ‘learning ability’) cannot create any noticeable difference in incentives to steal. Further heterogeneity in instantaneous opportunity cost is both too low and runs in the wrong direction to have any explanatory role. However, heterogeneity in discount rates in combination with differences in initial human capital can create an incentive for theft. The model is calibrated from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1997 with data from 1997 to 2011.

JEL-codes: D03 J24 K42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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