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Neighborhood peer effects on youth crime: natural experimental evidence

Author

Listed:
  • Gabriel Pons Rotger
  • George Charles Galster

Abstract

We investigate the degree to which disadvantaged neighborhood peers influence disadvantaged youths’ and young adults’ propensity to commit criminal offenses, identifying causal effects with the allocation of social housing in Copenhagen. We find that those living in the same social housing development who have been previously charged only for drug possession cause more youth criminality, but those with no criminal records or records involving other offenses do not. Youth exposed to a one percentage point higher neighborhood concentration of drug possession offenders have a 4.2% higher probability of being criminally charged (a 16.7% increase with respect to the sample mean).

Suggested Citation

  • Gabriel Pons Rotger & George Charles Galster, 2019. "Neighborhood peer effects on youth crime: natural experimental evidence," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 19(3), pages 655-676.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:jecgeo:v:19:y:2019:i:3:p:655-676.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/jeg/lby053
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Lydia Cheung & Philip Gunby, 2022. "Crime and mobility during the COVID-19 lockdown: a preliminary empirical exploration," New Zealand Economic Papers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(1), pages 106-113, January.
    2. Boje-Kovacs, Bence & Greve, Jane & Weatherall, Cecilie D., 2024. "Ethnic networks in neighborhoods affect mental health: Evidence from a quasi-random assignment of applicants in the public social housing system," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 345(C).
    3. Tushar Bharati & Thea Harpley Green, 2021. "Age at school transition and children’s cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes," Economics Discussion / Working Papers 21-06, The University of Western Australia, Department of Economics.
    4. Richard Disney & John Gathergood & Stephen Machin & Matteo Sandi, 2020. "Does homeownership reduce crime? A radical housing reform in Britain," CEP Discussion Papers dp1685, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    5. Richard Disney & John Gathergood & Stephen Machin & Matteo Sandi, 2023. "Does Homeownership Reduce Crime? A Radical Housing Reform from the UK," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 133(655), pages 2640-2675.
    6. Carlos Díaz & Eleonora Patacchini, 2023. "Parents, neighbors and youth crime," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 673-692, June.
    7. Airaksinen, Jaakko & Aaltonen, Mikko & Tarkiainen, Lasse & Martikainen, Pekka & Latvala, Antti, 2021. "Associations of neighborhood disadvantage and offender concentration with criminal behavior: Between-within analysis in Finnish registry data," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    8. Bence Boje-Kovacs & Jane Greve & Cecilie D. Weatherall, 2023. "Neighborhoods and mental health—evidence from a natural experiment in the public social housing sector," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(2), pages 911-934, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Neighborhood effects; natural experiment; youth crime; drug crime;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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