Crime and unemployment: The case of the Czech Republic

Abstract

The connection between economics and crime was first pointed out by Gary Becker, a representative of the new institutional economics, in the 1960s. Since then, various studies have examined how the economy and economic factors, including unemployment, affect crime. It is obvious that this issue is relatively old, but still relevant. There are two theories explaining the relationship between unemployment and crime, the motivation theory and the op- portunity theory. According to motivation theory, this relationship is positive, while according to opportunity theory, this relationship is negative. However, the studies to date have not yet reached a unified conclusion. The article aims to verify the relationship between unemployment and crime in the Czech Republic using three hypotheses. The assumption that an increase in unemployment will increase crime and that this dependence will be stronger in long- term unemployment is verified. The assumption that increasing spending on unemployment benefits will lead to a reduction in crime is also verified. The hypotheses are verified using regression analysis on data from the Czech Republic from the period 1993-2000 for various types of crime, namely general, violent, property and economic crime. Since it is in the interest of every society to minimize crime, it is desirable to know whether the use of effective employment policy instruments leading to the reduction of unemployment can help this.