Crime, Education and Peer Pressure

We present a dynamic two-period model of individual behaviour with heterogeneous agents in which individuals decide how to allocate their disposable time between education, crime and work in the legal sector. Education has a multiple role: it implies higher expected wages in the legal sector, increasing the opportunity cost of committing crime and it has a sort of “civilization” effect that makes more costly to engage in criminal activities. We model this effect by introducing a peer pressure function.Crime, Education, Peer Pressure

Identifying the Effect of Education on Crime. Evidence from the Italian Regions

In this paper we develop an econometric approach aimed at estimating the impact of education on the rate of criminality for the twenty Italian regions over the period 1980-1985. Starting from a simple model in which we clearly identify the relationship between the level of education and the rate of criminality, we propose to test our theoretical model and to identify the characteristics of crime behaviour in Italy. In particular, we test which features of our theoretical model are confirmed by the econometric estimates and which features need a more careful analysis determined by the peculiarities of the Italian regions. The primary objective of our econometric estimates is to assess the existence of the relationship between crime and education. But in order to study the Italian reality we account for its peculiarities (slowness in reaching a final judgement, presence of organized crime in Italy, economic dichotomy between the North and the South of Italy).Crime, Education

Bowling Alone, Drinking Together

Alcohol consumption may be associated to a rich social life, but its abuse might be related to a poor social life. This paper investigates whether alcohol consumption is a socially enjoyed good (a complement of social relations) or a substitute for social relations. In particular, it explores whether the answer changes between use and abuse, beer, wine and spirits, youth and adults, controlling or not for family influence and unobserved heterogeneity, and for various forms of social relations. Controlling for a great number of covariates and allowing for non linear and identity-specific family interaction effects, we find that alcohol consumption is a socially enjoyed good.Social relations, Social interaction, Family, Alcohol consumption, Binge drinking

Do immigrants cause crime?

In this paper we examine the empirical relationship between immigration and crime across Italian provinces during the period 1990-2003. Drawing on police administrative data, we first document that the size of immigrant population is positively correlated with the incidence of property crimes and with the overall crime rate. Then, we use instrumental variables based on migration toward other European countries to identify the causal impact of exogenous changes of immigrant population in Italy. According to these estimates, immigration increases only the incidence of robberies, while leaving unaffected all other types of crime. Since robberies represent a very minor fraction of all criminal offenses, the effect on the overall crime rate is not significantly different from zero.immigration ; crime

Immigration and crime: an empirical analysis

In this paper we examine the empirical relationship between immigration and crime across Italian provinces during the period 1990-2003. Drawing on police data, we first document that the size of the immigrant population is positively correlated with the incidence of property crimes and with the overall crime rate. We then use instrumental variables based on migration towards other European countries to identify the causal impact of exogenous changes in the immigrant population of Italy. According to these estimates, immigration increases only the incidence of robberies and has no effect on all other types of crime. Since robberies represent a very small fraction of all criminal offences, the effect on the overall crime rate is not significantly different from zero.immigration, crime

Do Immigrants Cause Crime?.

We examine the empirical relationship between immigration and crime across Italian provinces during the period 1990-2003. Drawing on police administrative records, we first document that the size of the immigrant population is positively correlated with the incidence of property crimes and with the overall crime rate. Then, we use instrumental variables based on immigration toward destination countries other than Italy to identify the causal impact of exogenous changes in Italy's immigrant population. According to these estimates, immigration increases only the incidence of robberies, while leaving unaff ected all other types of crime. Since robberies represent a very minor fraction of all criminal o ffenses, the eff ect on the overall crime rate is not signi cantly di fferent from zero.crime; immigration;

Early Labour Market Returns to College Subjects

This paper aims at estimating early labour market outcomes of Italian university graduates across college subjects. We devote great attention to endogenous selection issues using alternative methods to control for potential self-selection associated with the choice of the degree subject in order to unravel the causal link between college major and subsequent outcomes in the labour market. Our results suggest that “quantitative” fields (i.e. Sciences, Engineering and Economics) increase not only the speed of transition into the first job and employment probability but also early earnings, conditional on employment.University to work transition; College subject; Self-selection; Returns to education

Advocatus, et non latro? Testing the Supplier-Induced-Demand Hypothesis for Italian Courts of Justice

We explore the relationship between litigation rates and the number of lawyers, in a typical supplier-induced demand (SID) frame. Drawing on an original panel dataset for the 169 Italian courts of justice between 2000 and 2007, we first document that the number of lawyers is positively correlated with different measures of litigation rate. Then, using an instrumental variables strategy we find that a 10 percent increase of lawyers over population is associated with an increase between 1.6 to 6 percent in civil litigation rates. Thus, our empirical analysis supports the SID hypothesis for the Italian lawyers: following an increase in their relative number, lawyers may exploit their informational advantage to induce clients to access to courts even when litigation is unnecessary or ineffective.Lawyers, Litigiosity, Causality

Identifying the Socioeconomic Determinants of Crime in Spanish Provinces

In this paper we study, having as theoretical reference the economic model of crime (Becker, 1968; Ehrlich, 1973), which are the socioeconomic and demographic determinants of crime in Spain paying attention on the role of provincial peculiarities. We estimate a crime equation using a panel dataset of Spanish provinces (NUTS3) for the period 1993 to 1999 employing the GMM-system estimator. Empirical results suggest that lagged crime rate and clear-up rate are correlated to all typologies of crime rate considered. Property crimes are better explained by socioeconomic variables (GDP per capita, GDP growth rate and percentage of population with high school and university degree), while demographic factors reveal important and significant influences, in particular for crimes against the person. These results are obtained using an instrumental variable approach that takes advantage of the dynamic properties of our dataset to control for both measurement errors in crime data and joint endogeneity of the explanatory variables.demographics, socioeconomic factors, panel data, crime

On the historical and geographic origins of the Sicilian mafia

This research attempts to explain the large differences in the early diffusion of the mafia across different areas of Sicily. We advance the hypothesis that, after the demise of Sicilian feudalism, the lack of publicly provided property-right protection from widespread banditry favored the development of a florid market for private protection and the emergence of a cartel of protection providers: the mafia. This would especially be the case in those areas (prevalently concentrated in the Western part of the island) characterized by the production and commercialization of sulphur and citrus fruits, Sicily's most valuable export goods whose international demand was soaring at the time. We test this hypothesis combining data on the early incidence of mafia across Sicilian municipalities and on the distribution of sulphur reserves, land suitability for the cultivation of citrus fruits, distance from the main commercial ports, and a variety of other geographical controls. Our empirical findings provide support for the proposed hypothesis documenting, in particular, a significant impact of sulphur extraction, terrain ruggedness, and distance from Palermo's port on mafia's early diffusion.Organized crime, Mafia, Private protection, Persistence, Trade shocks, Sulfur, Citrus fruits