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Losing By Less? Import Competition, Unemployment Insurance Generosity, And Crime

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  • Brian Beach
  • John Lopresti

Abstract

Increased import competition from China has brought about a host of negative consequences for the most exposed industries and labor markets. Do social programs attenuate these harmful effects? We examine changes in import competition between 1990 and 2007, taking crime as our outcome of interest and unemployment insurance as our mitigating program. We find strong evidence that counties with access to more generous unemployment insurance experienced relatively smaller increases in trade‐induced property crime. This highlights a new and important positive externality of unemployment insurance. (JEL H00, R10)

Suggested Citation

  • Brian Beach & John Lopresti, 2019. "Losing By Less? Import Competition, Unemployment Insurance Generosity, And Crime," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 57(2), pages 1163-1181, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ecinqu:v:57:y:2019:i:2:p:1163-1181
    DOI: 10.1111/ecin.12758
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Noghanibehambari, Hamid & Tavassoli, Nahid, 2022. "An ounce of prevention, a pound of cure: The effects of college expansions on crime," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    2. Erling Barth & Henning Finseraas & Anders Kjelsrud & Kalle Moene, 2023. "Hit by the Silk Road: how wage coordination in Europe mitigates the China shock," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 125(1), pages 32-72, January.
    3. Wojciech Gryzbowski & Aleksandra Adamicz & Hanna Wysocki, 2021. "The Social Externality of Health Insurance: Evidence from Unemployment Insurance Generosity and Children Mortality," Economic Alternatives, University of National and World Economy, Sofia, Bulgaria, issue 2, pages 262-279, July.
    4. Hamid Noghanibehambari & Mahmoud Salari, 2020. "Health benefits of social insurance," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(12), pages 1813-1822, December.
    5. Lonnie R. Snowden, 2023. "US states' racial bias correlates with less SNAP participation by “undeserving poor” adults and lower unemployment benefit maximums," Poverty & Public Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(2), pages 133-149, June.
    6. Matthew Lang & T. Clay McManus & Georg Schaur, 2019. "The effects of import competition on health in the local economy," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(1), pages 44-56, January.
    7. Qiwei He & Scott Barkowski, 2020. "The effect of health insurance on crime: Evidence from the Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansion," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(3), pages 261-277, March.
    8. Rudolph, Maximilian & Starke, Peter, 2020. "How does the welfare state reduce crime? The effect of program characteristics and decommodification across 18 OECD-countries," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).

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    JEL classification:

    • H00 - Public Economics - - General - - - General
    • R10 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - General

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