Crime, Labour and Inequality - Einzelansicht

Dozentin: Prof. Anna Bindler (PhD); Professur für Angewandte Mikroökonomie (gemeinsame Berufung mit dem DIW)

Learning Objectives

On completion of this course, the students shall:

a. have been exposed to and be familiar with research and literature on the core course topics,

b. understand the research frontier and be equipped to critically assess current policy debates on the

core course topics,

c. be equipped with the tools to develop research designs that allow for evidence-based assessment of

policy-relevant questions on the core course topics.

Assessment

For MSc students, the assessment in this course will be based on a portfolio examination, consisting of

a 20-minute presentation (25%) and a 15–20-page long written term paper (75%).

For PhD students,

the assessment will be based on a portfolio examination, consisting of a 30-minute presentation (25%)

and a 20–25-page long written term paper (75%) on an extended topic.

Course Description

The aim of the course is for students to learn about research and the research frontier in the economics

of crime at the intersection of crime, labour and inequality.

The seminal economic model of crime (Becker, 1968) puts forward a theory of rational choice between

legal and illegal activity. Starting in the 1990s, an empirical literature has taken the model to the data,

testing its implications in terms of economic incentives and determinants of crime as well as with

respect to crime control and criminal justice policy. The course will introduce students to the rationalchoice

framework of the economic model of crime, as well as to the fast-growing empirical literature

in economics, focusing on questions that are relevant from a societal and policy perspective and

highlighting empirical approaches that allow for causal inference. The course will further cover recent

advances in assessing the social and economic costs of crime, including labour market and inequality

perspectives, and discuss the role of economic and social policy as crime control.

The course will highlight the following topics:

• Rational-choice model of crime

• Common challenges in the empirical analysis of crime (e.g., measurement, identification, methods)

• Economic incentives and social determinants of crime (e.g., labour markets, economic returns to

crime, education, social conditions, inequality and equality of opportunity)

• Economic and social costs of crime (e.g., costs of victimisation and productivity losses, human

capital costs, public health, local economic impacts of crime, discrimination)

• Criminal justice and crime control policy (e.g., deterrence and sanctions, police, substance use

legislation, court outcomes and biases in decision-making, economic and social policy as crime

control)

Throughout, different types of crime and specific policy implications will be discussed (e.g., property

versus violent crime, domestic violence, organised crime, gangs and youth crime).