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Author: | Huang, C-C. Laing, D. Wang, P. |
Title: | Crime and poverty: A search-theoretic approach |
Journal: | International Economic Review
2004 : AUG, VOL. 45:3, p. 909-938 |
Index terms: | Theories Models Human capital Education Poverty Crime USA |
Language: | eng |
Abstract: | It is documented by numerous studies that criminal activity is positively related to unemployment (hereafter as: unempl.) and negatively related to educational attainment (here as: educ.-attn.) levels within given communities. This phenomenon is studied in the context of a search-equilibrium model, in which agents choose btw. formal employment (here as: empl.) and pursuing crime-related activities (theft). Prior to their "occupational choices", agents undertake costly schooling, raising their productivity. Crime acts, in essence, as a tax on human capital by affecting the probability that a worker's earnings (possessions) are subsequently appropriated. There are multiple equilibria. High crime, low levels of educ.-attn., long spells of unempl., and poverty are correlated across them. |
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