Crime, unemployment and labor market programs in turbulent times

Anna Nilsson () and Jonas Agell
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Anna Nilsson: Stockholm University, Postal: Department of Economics, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden, http://www.ifau.se/

No 2003:14, Working Paper Series from IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy

Abstract: We exploit the exceptional variation in municipality-level unemployment and spending on labor market programs in Sweden during the 1990s to identify the impact of unemployment and programs on crime. We identify a statistically significant effect of unemployment on the incidence of overall crime, burglary, auto-theft and drug possession. A calculation suggests that the sharp reduction in unemployment during the later 1990s may have reduced burglary and auto-theft with 15 and 20 percent, respectively. After addressing several specification issues, we conclude that there is at best weak evidence that labor market programs – general ones and those specifically targeted to the young – help to reduce crime.

Keywords: Crime; unemployment; labor market programs; panel data (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J00 K40 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 31 pages
Date: 2003-10-14
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-law, nep-mfd and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (15)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Crime, Unemployment and Labor Market Programs in Turbulent Times (2003)
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