Structural Estimation of a Becker-Ehrlich Equilibrium Model of Crime: Allocating Police Across Cities to Reduce Crime

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Fu, Chao; Wolpin, Kenneth, I
• 署名单位: University of Wisconsin System; University of Wisconsin Madison; Rice University; University of Pennsylvania
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF ECONOMIC STUDIES
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0034-6527
• DOI: 10.1093/restud/rdx068
• 发表日期: 2018
• 页码: 2097-2138
• 关键词: search model; education; MARKET; identification; unemployment; deterrence; PUNISHMENT; INEQUALITY; dropout; school

摘要

We develop a model of crime in which the number of police, the crime rate, the arrest rate, the employment rate, and the wage rate are joint outcomes of a subgame perfect Nash equilibrium. The local government chooses the size of its police force and citizens choose among work, home, and crime alternatives. We estimate the model using metropolitan statistical area (MSA)-level data. We use the estimated model to examine the effects on crime of targeted federal transfers to local governments to increase police. We find that knowledge about unobserved MSA-specific attributes is critical for the optimal allocation of police across MSA's.