TY  - JOUR
AU  - Lochner, Lance
TI  - Education, Work, and Crime: A Human Capital Approach
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 10478
PY  - 2004
Y2  - May 2004
DO  - 10.3386/w10478
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w10478
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w10478.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Lance Lochner
Department of Economics
Faculty of Social Science
Western University
1151 Richmond Street, North
London, ON  N6A 5C2
CANADA
Tel: 519/661-2111 ext. 85281
Fax: 519/661-3666
E-Mail: llochner@uwo.ca
AB  - This paper develops a model of crime in which human capital increases the opportunity cost of crime from foregone work and expected costs associated with incarceration. Older, more intelligent, and more educated adults should commit fewer street (unskilled) crimes. White collar crimes decline less (or increase) with age and education. Predictions for age-crime and education-crime relationships receive broad empirical support in self-report data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and arrest data from the Uniform Crime Reports. The effects of education, training, and wage subsidies, as well as enforcement policies on criminal behavior are discussed.
ER  -