Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/82728 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2003
Series/Report no.: 
Working Paper No. 2003:14
Publisher: 
Uppsala University, Department of Economics, Uppsala
Abstract: 
This paper uses a panel of Swedish counties over the years 1988-99 to study the effects of unemployment on property crime rates. The period under study is characterized by great turbulence in the labor market - the variation in the unemployment rates is unprecedented in the second half of the century. The data hence provides a unique opportunity to investigate unemployment effects. According to the theory of economics of crime, increased unemployment rates lead to higher property crime rates. A fixed effects model is estimated to investigate this hypothesis. The model includes time- and county-specific effects and a number of economic and socio-demographic variables in order to control for unobservables and covariates. In addition the model is estimated with linear and quadratic time trends to control for county-specific unobserved trends. The result gives strong evidence that unemployment has a positive and significant effect on burglary, car theft and bike theft.
Subjects: 
Economics of Crime
Unemployment
Panel Data
Fixed Effects Estimation
JEL: 
C23
J29
J39
J69
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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