Do Remote Workers Deter Neighborhood Crime? Evidence from the Rise of Working from Home

Jesse Matheson, Brendon McConnell, James Rockey and Argyris Sakalis
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Argyris Sakalis: University of Sheffield

Discussion Papers from Department of Economics, University of Birmingham

Abstract: We examine the impact of the working from home (WFH) shift on neighborhood-level burglary rates, employing detailed street-level crime data and a neighborhood WFH measure. We find a one standard deviation increase in WFH (9.5pp) leads to a persistent 4% drop in burglaries. A spatial search model identifies two deterrence channels: occupancy, as burglars avoid occupied houses, and "eyes on the street". We provide evidence supporting both channels. Despite crime displacement to low WFH areas offseting 30% of the burglary reduction, a hedonic pricing model reveals significant willingness to pay for high WFH areas, especially those with high ex-ante burglary risk.

Keywords: Working From Home; Property Crime; Spatial Spillovers; Hedonic House Price Models. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H75 K42 R20 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 53 pages
Date: 2023-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-law and nep-ure
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https://repec.cal.bham.ac.uk/pdf/23-07.pdf

Related works:
Working Paper: Do Remote Workers Deter Neighborhood Crime? Evidence from the Rise of Working from Home (2024)
Working Paper: Do Remote Workers Deter Neighborhood Crime? Evidence from the Rise of Working from Home (2023)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bir:birmec:23-07

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