TY  - JOUR
AU  - Foley,C. Fritz
TI  - Welfare Payments and Crime
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 14074
PY  - 2008
Y2  - June 2008
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14074
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14074.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
C. Fritz Foley
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA  02163
Tel: 617/495-6375
Fax: 617/496-8443
E-Mail: ffoley@hbs.edu
AB  - This paper tests the hypothesis that the timing of welfare payments affects criminal activity.  Analysis of daily reported incidents of major crimes in twelve U.S. cities reveals an increase in crime over the course of monthly welfare payment cycles.  This increase reflects an increase in crimes that are likely to have a direct financial motivation like burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and robbery, as opposed to other kinds of crime like arson, assault, homicide, and rape.  Temporal patterns in crime are observed in jurisdictions in which disbursements are focused at the beginning of monthly welfare payment cycles and not in jurisdictions in which disbursements are relatively more staggered.
ER  -