Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/25989 
Year of Publication: 
2007
Series/Report no.: 
CESifo Working Paper No. 1944
Publisher: 
Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo), Munich
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.
Subjects: 
violence
crime
gangs
unemployment
identity
JEL: 
K42
D71
D74
Document Type: 
Working Paper
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