Welfare payments and crime
By: C. Fritz Foley.
Contributors: National Bureau of Economic Research.
Series: NBER working paper series -- working paper 14074; Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research : Online) -- working paper no. 14074.
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research
Published: 2008
Place of publication: Cambridge, MA
Language: eng
Format: Electronic resource
Description: "This paper tests the hypothesis that the timing of welfare payments affects criminal activity.  Analysis of daily reported incidents of major crimes in twelve U.S.  cities reveals an increase in crime over the course of monthly welfare payment cycles.  This increase reflects an increase in crimes that are likely to have a direct financial motivation like burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and robbery, as opposed to other kinds of crime like arson, assault, homicide, and rape.  Temporal patterns in crime are observed in jurisdictions in which disbursements are focused at the beginning of monthly welfare payment cycles and not in jurisdictions in which disbursements are relatively more staggered"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site.
Notes: Title from PDF file as viewed on 7/11/2008.

Includes bibliographical references.

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