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A Matter of Time: A Partial Test of Institutional Anomie Theory Using Cross-National Time Use Data

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“Lost time is never found again.” – Benjamin Franklin.

Abstract

Objectives

The institutional anomie theory of crime (IAT) has traditionally been tested using either survey-based attitudinal measures or government expenditures. However, data on how people use their time may offer more valid and unobtrusive indicators of the theory’s key concepts, since choosing how to spend one’s time is inherently an exercise in expressing values. The present study answers the call for time use data in IAT research.

Methods

We perform a cross-national test of IAT using data compiled by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) from national time use surveys administered in 29 countries since 1999. Using multivariate regression, we assess the relationships between homicide rates and time spent in economic versus noneconomic institutional domains.

Results

Consistent with prior work, we find mixed support for IAT. By itself, time spent in economic activity is not significantly related to homicide rates. However, the interaction term for time spent in economic and non-economic activities has a positive and statistically significant relationship with homicide, even after controlling for several other factors.

Conclusions

The results tentatively suggest that non-economic institutions may be criminogenic in some societies. We discuss the importance of our findings and suggest new lines of research to further explore the content of non-economic institutions. We also address other possible applications of time use data in macro-criminological inquiry.

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Notes

  1. The OECD time use dataset contains more recent data for some countries than what is reflected in the survey documentation in Miranda (2011). Veerle Miranda provided updated documentation that is available from the authors upon request. OECD time use data are available for download at http://www.oecd.org/gender/data/OECD_1564_TUSupdatePortal.xls.

  2. Prior research (e.g., Messner and Rosenfeld 1997; Hughes et al. 2015) has also controlled for average annual population growth. Due to our small sample size, we omitted this variable in order to achieve parsimony in our regression models. When running our models with a measure of average annual population growth 2000–2005, the Gini index in Model 1 becomes non-significant, but Models 2 and 3 are substantively similar to the results presented.

  3. Data from Wave 4 (1999–2004) of the World Values Survey, Aggregate Data File are used for all countries for which data are available. For missing values, we substitute Wave 3 (1994–1998) data for Australia, New Zealand, and Norway.

  4. We note that economic participation should not be confused with the average length of a workday in each country. Economic participation is the average number of minutes that respondents performed paid work on their time diary days. Values of economic participation reflect the fact that some respondents do not perform any paid work, and that some working respondents likely fill out diaries for non-working days. The survey documentation in Miranda (2011) shows that many surveys collect data for 1 week day and 1 weekend day, while others collect data for a set number of consecutive days. As Miranda (2011, p. 34) notes, “The time spent on various activities on any particular day may not be representative of how respondents typically spend their time, although such anomalies should average out across the full sample of respondents.”

  5. To further investigate the influence of each country in our regression analyses, we re-ran our OLS models 29 times, each time dropping one country from the analyses. Our product term (economic participation × noneconomic participation) remained significant 28 out of 29 times, becoming non-significant only when dropping Mexico (p = .11). This demonstrates that our product term is robust to different model specifications. Our significant control variables remained robust as well. Sex ratio became non-significant only when dropping Estonia, while development became non-significant only when omitting India.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Steven Messner, Justin Pickett, and Kate Hart for their comments on earlier drafts of the manuscript, and Meghan Rogers for her advice.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, University at Albany, SUNY, Arts and Sciences 351, 1400 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY, 12222, USA

    Dean Weld

  2. School of Criminal Justice, University at Albany, SUNY, Draper 219, 135 Western Avenue, Albany, NY, 12222, USA

    Sean Patrick Roche

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Correspondence to Dean Weld.

Appendix A: Sampled Countries and Year of Time Use Survey Administration (N = 29)

Appendix A: Sampled Countries and Year of Time Use Survey Administration (N = 29)

Australia* (2006)

Hungary* (1999–2000)

Poland* (2003–2004)

Austria* (2008–2009)

India (1999)

Portugal* (1999)

Belgium* (2005)

Ireland* (2005)

Slovenia* (2000–2001)

Canada* (2010)

Italy* (2008–2009)

South Africa (2000)

China (2008)

Japan* (2011)

Spain* (2009–2010)

Denmark* (2001)

Korea, Republic of* (2009)

Sweden* (2010)

Estonia* (1999–2000)

Mexico* (2009)

Turkey* (2006)

Finland* (2009–2010)

Netherlands* (2005–2006)

United Kingdom* (2005)

France* (2009)

New Zealand* (2009–2010)

United States* (2010)

Germany* (2001–2002)

Norway* (2010)

 
  1. * OECD member countries

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Weld, D., Roche, S.P. A Matter of Time: A Partial Test of Institutional Anomie Theory Using Cross-National Time Use Data. J Quant Criminol 33, 371–395 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10940-016-9305-x

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