Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/89742 
Year of Publication: 
2013
Series/Report no.: 
CESifo Working Paper No. 4462
Publisher: 
Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo), Munich
Abstract: 
We study the link between parental selection and children criminality in a new context. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, East Germany experienced an unprecedented temporary drop in fertility driven by economic uncertainty. We exploit this natural experiment to estimate that the children from these (smaller) cohorts are 40 percent more likely to commit crimes. We show that women who gave birth at this period were negatively selected. Investigation of the underlying mechanisms reveals that emotional attachment and risk attitudes play important roles in the fertility-crime relationship. Finally, results for siblings support a causal interpretation of our findings.
Subjects: 
crime
parental selection
fertility decision
economic uncertainty
risk attitude
JEL: 
J13
K42
Document Type: 
Working Paper
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