Do Immigrants Cause Crime?
Résumé
We examine the empirical relationship between immigration and crime across Italian
provinces during the period 1990-2003. Drawing on police administrative records, we
first document that the size of the immigrant population is positively correlated with the
incidence of property crimes and with the overall crime rate. Then, we use instrumental
variables based on immigration toward destination countries other than Italy to identify
the causal impact of exogenous changes in Italy's immigrant population. According to
these estimates, immigration increases only the incidence of robberies, while leaving unaff ected all other types of crime. Since robberies represent a very minor fraction of all
criminal o ffenses, the eff ect on the overall crime rate is not signi cantly di fferent from zero.
Domaines
Gestion et managementOrigine | Fichiers produits par l'(les) auteur(s) |
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