American Economic Journal:
Applied Economics
ISSN 1945-7782 (Print) | ISSN 1945-7790 (Online)
Partners in Crime
American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
vol. 11,
no. 1, January 2019
(pp. 126–50)
(Complimentary)
Abstract
Social interactions may explain the large variance in criminal activity across neighborhoods and time. We present direct evidence of social spillovers in crime using random variation in neighborhood residence along opposite sides of a newly drawn school boundary. We first show evidence for agglomeration effects—within small neighborhood areas, grouping more disadvantaged students together in the same school increases total crime. We then show that these youths are more likely to be arrested for committing crimes together—to be "partners in crime". Our results show that neighborhood and school segregation increase crime by fostering social interactions between at-risk youth.Citation
Billings, Stephen B., David J. Deming, and Stephen L. Ross. 2019. "Partners in Crime." American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 11 (1): 126–50. DOI: 10.1257/app.20170249Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- I24 Education and Inequality
- I28 Education: Government Policy
- J13 Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
- K42 Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
- R11 Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes
- R23 Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics: Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population; Neighborhood Characteristics
- Z13 Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification
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