Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/35275 
Year of Publication: 
2008
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 3603
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This paper investigates the relation between social capital and crime. The analysis contributes to explaining why crime is so heterogeneous across space. By employing current and historical data for Dutch municipalities and by providing novel indicators to measure social capital, we find a link between social capital and crime. Our results suggest that higher levels of social capital are associated with lower crime rates and that municipalities' historical states in terms of population heterogeneity, religiosity and education affect current levels of social capital. Social capital indicators explain about 10 percent of the observed variance in crime. It is also shown why some social capital indicators are more useful than others in a robustness analysis.
Subjects: 
Social capital
crime
the Netherlands
JEL: 
A13
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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