1.
Grönqvist, Hans, 1978-, et al.
(författare)
Alcohol Availability and Crime: Lessons from Liberalized Weekend Sales Restrictions
2011
Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
In February 2000, the Swedish state monopoly alcohol retail company launched a largescale experiment in which all stores in selected counties were allowed to keep open onSaturdays. We assess the effects on crime of this expansion in access to alcohol. Toisolate the impact of the experiment from other factors, we compare conviction rates inage cohorts above and below the national drinking age restriction in counties where theexperiment had been implemented, and contrast these differences to those in countiesthat still prohibited weekend alcohol commerce. Our analysis relies on extensiveindividual conviction data that have been merged to population registers. Afterdemonstrating that Saturday opening of alcohol shops significantly raised alcohol sales,we show that it also increased crime. The increase is confined to crimes committed onSaturdays and is driven by illegal activity among individuals with low ability and amongpersons with fathers that have completed at least some secondary education. Althoughthe increases in crime and alcohol sales were slightly higher during the initial phase ofthe experiment, our evidence suggests that both effects persist over time. Our analysisreveals that the social costs linked to the experiment exceed the monetary benefits.
2.
3.
Grönqvist, Hans, 1978-
(författare)
Youth Unemployment and Crime: New Lessons Exploring Longitudinal Register Data
2011
Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
This paper investigates the link between youth unemployment and crime using a unique combination of labor market and conviction data spanning the entire Swedish working-age population over an extended period. The empirical analysis reveals large and statistically significant effects of unemployment on several types of crime. The magnitude of the effect is similar across different subgroups of the population. In contrast to most previous studies, the results suggest that joblessness explain a meaningful portion of why male youths are overrepresented among criminal offenders. I discuss reasons for the discrepancy in the results and show that that the use of aggregated measures of labor market opportunities in past studies is likely to capture offsetting general equilibrium effects. Contrary to predictions by economic theory the effect of unemployment on crime is not mediated by income. Instead, an analysis of crimes committed during weekdays versus weekends provides suggestive evidence that unemployment increases the time that individuals have to engage in crime.
4.
Grönqvist, Hans, 1978-, et al.
(författare)
Education policy and early fertility: Lessons from an expansion of upper secondary schooling
2011
Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt) abstract
This paper studies effects of education policy on early fertility. We study a major educational reform in Sweden in which vocational tracks in upper secondary school were prolonged from two to three years and the curricula were made more academic. Our identification strategy takes advantage of cross-regional and cross-time variation in the implementation of a pilot scheme preceding the reform in which several municipalities evaluated the new policy. The empirical analysis draws on rich population micro data. We find that women who enrolled in the new program were significantly less likely to give birth early in life and that this effect is driven by women with higher opportunity costs of child rearing. There is however no statistically significant effect on men‟s fertility decisions. Our results suggest that the social benefits of changes in education policy may extend beyond those usually claimed.
