IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/applec/44y2012i29p3765-3775.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Crime, inequality and unemployment in England and Wales

Author

Listed:
  • Dongxu Wu
  • Zhongmin Wu

Abstract

A model of crime is developed based on principles from the existing literature with some original insight. The implications of the model are that income inequality and unemployment are important explanatory variables for crimes motivated by economic gain, but do not offer much explanatory power for other types of crime. Panel data of UK regions over the years from 2002 to 2007 are then used to test these predictions. The empirical results strongly support the hypothesis that crime is an economic phenomenon.

Suggested Citation

  • Dongxu Wu & Zhongmin Wu, 2012. "Crime, inequality and unemployment in England and Wales," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(29), pages 3765-3775, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:applec:44:y:2012:i:29:p:3765-3775
    DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2011.581217
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/00036846.2011.581217
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/00036846.2011.581217?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Steven D. Levitt, 2004. "Understanding Why Crime Fell in the 1990s: Four Factors that Explain the Decline and Six that Do Not," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 18(1), pages 163-190, Winter.
    2. Raphael, Steven & Winter-Ember, Rudolf, 2001. "Identifying the Effect of Unemployment on Crime," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 44(1), pages 259-283, April.
    3. Imrohoroglu, Ayse & Merlo, Antonio & Rupert, Peter, 2000. "On the Political Economy of Income Redistribution and Crime," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 41(1), pages 1-25, February.
    4. Gary S. Becker, 1974. "Crime and Punishment: An Economic Approach," NBER Chapters, in: Essays in the Economics of Crime and Punishment, pages 1-54, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Reilly, Barry & Witt, Robert, 1996. "Crime, Deterrence and Unemployment in England and Wales: An Empirical Analysis," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(2), pages 137-159, April.
    6. Matz Dahlberg & Magnus Gustavsson, 2008. "Inequality and Crime: Separating the Effects of Permanent and Transitory Income," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 70(2), pages 129-153, April.
    7. John J. Donohue III & Steven D. Levitt, 2001. "The Impact of Legalized Abortion on Crime," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 116(2), pages 379-420.
    8. Eric D. Gould & Bruce A. Weinberg & David B. Mustard, 2002. "Crime Rates And Local Labor Market Opportunities In The United States: 1979-1997," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 84(1), pages 45-61, February.
    9. Fiona Carmichael & Robert Ward, 2000. "Youth unemployment and crime in the English regions and Wales," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(5), pages 559-571.
    10. Richard B. Freeman, 1996. "Why Do So Many Young American Men Commit Crimes and What Might We Do about It?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 10(1), pages 25-42, Winter.
    11. Mirko Draca & Stephen Machin, 2015. "Crime and Economic Incentives," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 7(1), pages 389-408, August.
    12. Robert Witt & Alan Clarke & Nigel Fielding, 1998. "Crime, earnings inequality and unemployment in England and Wales," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(4), pages 265-267.
    13. Morgan Kelly, 2000. "Inequality And Crime," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 82(4), pages 530-539, November.
    14. Levitt, Steven D, 1997. "Using Electoral Cycles in Police Hiring to Estimate the Effect of Police on Crime," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(3), pages 270-290, June.
    15. Freeman, Richard B., 1999. "The economics of crime," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 52, pages 3529-3571, Elsevier.
    16. repec:eee:labchp:v:3:y:1999:i:pc:p:3529-3571 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Shavell, Steven, 1991. "Individual precautions to prevent theft: Private versus socially optimal behavior," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 123-132, September.
    18. Fajnzylber, Pablo & Lederman, Daniel & Loayza, Norman, 2002. "Inequality and Violent Crime," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 45(1), pages 1-40, April.
    19. Ann Dryden Witte & Helen Tauchen, 1994. "Work and Crime: An Exploration Using Panel Data," NBER Working Papers 4794, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Brush, Jesse, 2007. "Does income inequality lead to more crime? A comparison of cross-sectional and time-series analyses of United States counties," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 96(2), pages 264-268, August.
    21. Witte, Ann D & Tauchen, Helen, 1994. "Work and Crime: An Exploration Using Panel Data," Public Finance = Finances publiques, , vol. 49(Supplemen), pages 155-167.
    22. Block, M K & Heineke, J M, 1975. "A Labor Theoretic Analysis of the Criminal Choice," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 65(3), pages 314-325, June.
    23. Ehrlich, Isaac, 1973. "Participation in Illegitimate Activities: A Theoretical and Empirical Investigation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 81(3), pages 521-565, May-June.
    24. Karin Edmark, 2005. "Unemployment and Crime: Is There a Connection?," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 107(2), pages 353-373, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Muhammad Ahad, 2016. "Nexus between Income Inequality, Crime, Inflation and Poverty: NewEvidence fromStructural Breaksfor Pakistan," International Journal of Economics and Empirical Research (IJEER), The Economics and Social Development Organization (TESDO), vol. 4(3), pages 133-145, March.
    2. Gail Pacheco, 2012. "The cost of poor transitions for youth," Working Papers 2012-09, Auckland University of Technology, Department of Economics.
    3. Lilik Sugiharti & Miguel Angel Esquivias & Mohd Shahidan Shaari & Lussi Agustin & Hilda Rohmawati, 2022. "Criminality and Income Inequality in Indonesia," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-19, March.
    4. Pazzona, Matteo, 2024. "Revisiting the Income Inequality-Crime Puzzle," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    5. Ali M. Ahmed & Elisabeth Lång, 2017. "The employability of ex-offenders: a field experiment in the Swedish labor market," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 6(1), pages 1-23, December.
    6. Manash Ranjan Gupta & Priya Brata Dutta, 2024. "Crime, efficiency of labour and trade: a theoretical analysis," Indian Economic Review, Springer, vol. 59(1), pages 105-136, June.
    7. Lilik Sugiharti & Rudi Purwono & Miguel Angel Esquivias & Hilda Rohmawati, 2023. "The Nexus between Crime Rates, Poverty, and Income Inequality: A Case Study of Indonesia," Economies, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-15, February.
    8. Mauro Costantini & Iris Meco & Antonio Paradiso, 2016. "Common trends in the US state-level crime.What do panel data say?," Working Papers 2016:14, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".
    9. Manea, Roxana Elena & Piraino, Patrizio & Viarengo, Martina, 2023. "Crime, inequality and subsidized housing: Evidence from South Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    10. Amit Ghosh & Salvador Contreras, 2022. "Local Banking Market Frictions and Youth Crime: Evidence from Bank Failures," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 61(1), pages 43-75, February.
    11. Jawadi, Fredj & Mallick, Sushanta K. & Idi Cheffou, Abdoulkarim & Augustine, Anish, 2021. "Does higher unemployment lead to greater criminality? Revisiting the debate over the business cycle," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 182(C), pages 448-471.
    12. Duque, Magali & Mcknight, Abigail, 2019. "Understanding the relationship between inequalities and poverty: mechanisms associated with crime, the legal system and punitive sanctions," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 103459, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    13. Amjad Ali & Chan Bibi, 2020. "Public Policies, Socio-Economic Environment And Crimes In Pakistan: A Time Series Analysis," Bulletin of Business and Economics (BBE), Research Foundation for Humanity (RFH), vol. 9(1), pages 1-11, March.
    14. Magali Duque & Abigail McKnight, 2019. "Understanding the relationship between inequalities and poverty: mechanisms associated with crime, the legal system and punitive sanctions," CASE Papers /215, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.
    15. David Hauner & Ali Kutan & Christy Spivey, 2012. "Inequality and crime: evidence from Russia's regions," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(17), pages 1667-1671.
    16. Goh, Lim Thye & Law, Siong Hook, 2023. "The crime rate of five Latin American countries: Does income inequality matter?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 745-763.
    17. Aadil Hameed Shah & Atta Ullah Khan & Abdul Saboor & Muhammad Iftikhar‐ul‐Husnain, 2022. "Approximation of crime, poverty, and misery index across quasi‐democratic and dictatorship regimes in Pakistan: Static and dynamic analysis," Poverty & Public Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 14(1), pages 50-68, March.
    18. Tiago Freire, 2015. "City of God Redux: Inequality, Migration, and Violent Crime in Brazil between 1980 and 2000," ERSA conference papers ersa15p658, European Regional Science Association.
    19. Gail Pacheco & Jessica Dye, 2013. "Estimating the Cost of Youth Disengagement in New Zealand," Working Papers 2013-04, Auckland University of Technology, Department of Economics.
    20. Kabeya Clement Mulamba, 2021. "A Spatial Analysis of Property Crime Rates in South Africa," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 89(3), pages 329-347, September.
    21. Jing Yuan & Xiaomin Liu & Yinghui Wang & Zongwu Cai, 2024. "Impact of Minimum Wage Standard on Occupational Income Inequality and Common Prosperity in China," WORKING PAPERS SERIES IN THEORETICAL AND APPLIED ECONOMICS 202404, University of Kansas, Department of Economics, revised Feb 2024.
    22. Iljoong Kim & Jaewook Byeon, 2017. "Discretionary prosecution of regulatory crimes: disproportionate emphasis and consequences to other serious crimes," Asia-Pacific Journal of Regional Science, Springer, vol. 1(2), pages 559-587, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kangoh Lee, 2018. "Unemployment and crime: the role of apprehension," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 45(1), pages 59-80, February.
    2. Denis Fougère & Francis Kramarz & Julien Pouget, 2009. "Youth Unemployment and Crime in France," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 7(5), pages 909-938, September.
    3. Paolo Buonanno, 2003. "The Socioeconomic Determinants of Crime. A Review of the Literature," Working Papers 63, University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Economics, revised Nov 2003.
    4. Povilas Lastauskas & Eirini Tatsi, 2017. "Spatial Nexus in Crime and Unemployement in Times of Crisis," Bank of Lithuania Working Paper Series 39, Bank of Lithuania.
    5. Altindag, Duha T., 2012. "Crime and unemployment: Evidence from Europe," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 145-157.
    6. Yu Liu & Thomas M. Fullerton Jr. & Nathan J. Ashby, 2013. "Assessing The Impacts Of Labor Market And Deterrence Variables On Crime Rates In Mexico," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 31(4), pages 669-690, October.
    7. Paolo Buonanno, 2003. "Identifying the Effect of Education on Crime. Evidence from the Italian Regions," Working Papers 65, University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Economics, revised Nov 2003.
    8. Povilas Lastauskas & Eirini Tatsi, 2013. "Spatial Nexus in Crime and unemployment in Times of crisis: Evidence from Germany," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 1359, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    9. Islam,Asif Mohammed, 2016. "An exploration of the relationship between police presence, crime, and business in developing countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7560, The World Bank.
    10. Asif Islam, 2014. "Economic growth and crime against small and medium sized enterprises in developing economies," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 43(3), pages 677-695, October.
    11. Mustard, David B., 2010. "How Do Labor Markets Affect Crime? New Evidence on an Old Puzzle," IZA Discussion Papers 4856, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Pallab K. Ghosh & Gary A. Hoover & Zexuan Liu, 2020. "Do State Minimum Wages Affect the Incarceration Rate?," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 86(3), pages 845-872, January.
    13. Matthew J. Baker & Niklas J. Westelius, 2013. "Crime, expectations, and the deterrence hypothesis," Chapters, in: Thomas J. Miceli & Matthew J. Baker (ed.), Research Handbook on Economic Models of Law, chapter 12, pages 235-280, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    14. Mejía, Daniel & Restrepo, Pascual, 2016. "Crime and conspicuous consumption," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 1-14.
    15. Ochsen, Carsten, 2010. "Crime and labor market policy in Europe," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 52-61, March.
    16. Alejandro Gaviria & Carlos Medina & Jorge Tamayo, 2010. "Assessing the Link between Adolescent Fertility and Urban Crime," Borradores de Economia 6860, Banco de la Republica.
    17. Buonanno, Paolo & Vargas, Juan F., 2019. "Inequality, crime, and the long run legacy of slavery," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 539-552.
    18. O’Flaherty, Brendan & Sethi, Rajiv, 2015. "Urban Crime," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 1519-1621, Elsevier.
    19. Cerro, Ana María & Rodríguez Andrés, Antonio, 2011. "Typologies of Crime in the Argentine Provinces. A Panel Study 2000-2008," MPRA Paper 44460, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Nilsson, Anna, 2004. "Income Inequality and Crime: The Case of Sweden," Research Papers in Economics 2004:3, Stockholm University, Department of Economics.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:applec:44:y:2012:i:29:p:3765-3775. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RAEC20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.