TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2007//
TI  - Crime and unemployment in turbulent times
JO  - Journal of the European Economic Association
A1  - Öster, Anna
A1  - Agell, Jonas
SP  - 752
EP  - 775
VL  - 5
IS  - 4
N2  - We use the exceptional variation in municipality-level unemployment in Sweden during the 1990s to identify the effect of unemployment on crime. Our findings are as follows: (i) There is a statistically and economically significant effect of general unemployment on the incidence of burglary, auto theft, and drug possession; (ii) we find no evidence for the popular view that youth unemployment matters for crime; (iii) prime-aged unemployment is robustly correlated with main categories of youthful crimes, a finding consistent with the idea that unstable life conditions of parents have adverse spillover effects on the life-choices of their children. (JEL: J00, K4)<p /> 
LA  - 
SN  - 1542-4766
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/JEEA.2007.5.4.752
ID  - ref1
ER  -