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Tougher Than the Rest? Relationship between Unemployment and Crime in Croatia

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  • Vedran Recher

    (The Institute of Economics, Zagreb)

Abstract

In this paper, the relationship between unemployment and crime is analysed. A panel of 20 Croatian counties over the years 1998-2013 is used to estimate the effect of unemployment on the rates of various groups of property and violent crimes. According to the theory of economics of crime, increase in unemployment leads to higher crime rates. A fixed-effects model, including time- and county-specific effects and several covariates, is estimated. The results show there is no impact of unemployment on aggregate property crimes. For all violent crimes bar rapes, the results oppose the theory and intuition. The unexpected results are discussed in the context of the Croatian-specific macro-environment.

Suggested Citation

  • Vedran Recher, 2016. "Tougher Than the Rest? Relationship between Unemployment and Crime in Croatia," Working Papers 1602, The Institute of Economics, Zagreb.
    • Handle: RePEc:iez:wpaper:1602
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    crime; unemployment; fixed-effects model; panel data;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
    • J00 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - General
    • J69 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Other

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