The Economics of Crime: Investigating the Drugs-Crime Channel

Horst Entorf and Peter Winker

Law and Economics from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: The rising trends both in drug addiction and crime rates are of major public concern in Germany. Surprisingly, the economic theory of crime seems to ignore the drugs-crime nexus, whereas the criminological literature considers illicit drug use a main reason of criminal activities. This paper provides an econometric assessment of the drugs- crime channel within a Becker-Ehrlich model of crime supply. Estimations based on panel data from the German states allows us to take into account further factors that might influence both drug abuse and crime. The results indicate that drug offences have a significant impact, in particular on property crimes. We attribute this finding to a strong economic-related channel of drug abuse on crime.

Keywords: economics of crime; panel data econometrics; drug addiction (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C23 I19 J49 K42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 42 pages
Date: 2001-09-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-law
Note: Type of Document - Tex; pages: 42
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Related works:
Working Paper: The Economics of Crime: Investigating the Drugs-Crime Channel (2008)
Working Paper: The Economics of Crime: Investigating the Drugs-Crime Channel (2002)
Working Paper: The Economics of Crime: Investigating the Drugs-Crime Channel (2002)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wpa:wuwple:0108001

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