Education, Work, and Crime: A Human Capital Approach*

Abstract

This article 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.

Does Eligibility for Tertiary Education Affect Crime Rates? Quasi-Experimental Evidence

“…However, according to statistics from the 1980 wave of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) neither the first nor the second explanation seem to be correct. It is reported that 17% of the men with a tertiary education self-report some income from crime (Lochner 2004(Lochner , 2010. The NLSY also indicates that investments in tertiary education are associated with a substantial reduction in crime.…”

An experimental study of prosocial motivation among criminals

“…It is well established that differences in circumstances are important in explaining differences in criminal behavior (Allingham and Sandmo, 1972;Becker, 1968;Gould, Weinberg, and Mustard, 2002;Horney, Osgood, and Marshall, 1995;Levitt, 1997;Lochner, 2004;McCarthy, 2002). The role of individual motivation, in particular prosocial motivation, is less well understood.…”

Éducation et frais de scolarité

“…Nous mentionnons tout de même que, sur des données américaines, une augmentation du niveau d'éducation secondaire réduit l'incidence de crimes violents (Lochner et Moretti, 2004). Par contre, Lochner (2004) ne trouve pas d'effet de l'éducation sur l'incidence de crimes non violents telles fraude, contrefaçon, etc.…”