Spatially Varying Unemployment and Crime Effects in the Long Run and Short Run

Abstract

The Cantor and Land model of unemployment and crime separates the effects of long- and short-run unemployment. In the long run, increases in unemployment are expected to increase crime, whereas the same increases are expected to decrease crime in the short run. This model has been tested for decades, generally supporting these predictions. In this article, we investigate spatial variations in these relationships using geographically weighted regression. Using crime data from Vancouver, Canada (commercial burglary, residential burglary, mischief, theft, theft from vehicle, theft of vehicle, and aggregate property), we find global models do not exhibit statistically significant unemployment–crime relationships, but they do emerge in local (geographically weighted) regression. These results have important implications for theoretical development, policy formation, and policy evaluation.