Abstract
National-level time series data are a crude tool for distinguishing between two alternative behavioral explanations for a link between unemployment and crime. Consequently, inferences drawn from aggregate time series estimates are likely to be misleading. A more fruitful approach to learning about the link between unemployment and crime would be to utilize a menagerie of different methodological approaches such as cross-section and panel data analysis of less geographically aggregated areas, natural experiments, international data, individual-level data, and ethnography.
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Levitt, S.D. Alternative Strategies for Identifying the Link Between Unemployment and Crime. Journal of Quantitative Criminology 17, 377–390 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1012541821386
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1012541821386