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The Effect of Employment Frictions on Crime: Theory and Estimation

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  • Bryan Engelhardt

    (Department of Economics, College of the Holy Cross)

Abstract

I investigate how long it takes for released inmates to find a job, and when they find a job, how their incarceration rate changes. An on-the-job search model with crime is used to model criminal behavior, derive the estimation method and analyze several policies including a job placement program. The results show the unemployed are incarcerated twice as fast as the employed and take on average four months to find a job. Combining these results, it is demonstrated that reducing the average unemployment spell of criminals by two months reduces crime and recidivism by more than five percent.

Suggested Citation

  • Bryan Engelhardt, 2008. "The Effect of Employment Frictions on Crime: Theory and Estimation," Working Papers 0805, College of the Holy Cross, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hcx:wpaper:0805
    as

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    File URL: https://hcapps.holycross.edu/hcs/RePEc/hcx/HC0805-Engelhardt_CrimeEmployment.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    crime; search; unemployment; wage dispersion;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C41 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics - - - Duration Analysis; Optimal Timing Strategies
    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • J0 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search

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