Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/34320 
Year of Publication: 
2007
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 2710
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Empirical evidence reveals that unemployment tends to increase property crime but that it has no effect on violent crime. To explain these facts, we examine a model of criminal gangs and suggest that there is a substitution effect between property crime and violent crime at work. In the model, non-monetary valuation of gang membership is private knowledge. Thus the leaders face a trade-off between less crime per member in large gangs and more crime per member in small gangs. Unemployment increases the relative attractiveness of large and less violent gangs engaging more in property crime.
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
144.68 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.