The unintended effects of minimum wage increases on crime

• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2022.104780
• Publication Date: 2023-01-23T11:19:55Z
• Authors: Zachary S. Fone; Joseph J. Sabia; Resul Cesur
• Keywords: Minimum Wage; Property crime; Longitudinal data; Unintended consequences; Wage growth

The availability of higher-paying jobs for low-skilled individuals has been documented to reduce crime. This study explores the impact one most prominent labor policies designed provide higher wages workers — minimum wage on teenage and young adult arrests. Using data from 1998–2016 Uniform Crime Reports a difference-in-differences approach, we find that 1 percent increase in is associated with 0.2 0.3 property crime arrests among 16-to-24-year-olds, an effect driven by larceny-related magnitudes our estimated elasticities suggest $15 Federal wage, proposed as part Raise Wage Act, could generate approximately 309,000 additional larcenies. Job loss emerges important mechanism explain findings, supplemental analyses affected National Longitudinal Survey Youth 1997 show this concentrated bound increases. Finally, no evidence hikes violent