Understanding the determinants of crime

Ayse Imrohoroglu, Antonio Merlo and Peter Rupert

Journal of Economics and Finance, 2006, vol. 30, issue 2, 270-284

Abstract: In this paper, we use an overlapping generations model where individuals are allowed to engage in both legitimate market activities and criminal behavior in order to assess the role of certain factors on the property crime rate. In particular, we investigate if differences in the unemployment rate, fraction of low human capital individuals in an economy, apprehension probability, duration of a jail sentence, and income inequality could be capable of generating large differences in crime rates that are observed across countries. We find that small differences in the apprehension probability and income inequality can generate quantitatively significant differences in the crime rates across similar environments. Copyright Springer 2006

Date: 2006
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DOI: 10.1007/BF02761491

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