CRIME AND POVERTY: A SEARCH‐THEORETIC APPROACH*
构建搜索均衡模型，分析个体在正规就业与盗窃活动间的职业选择，发现犯罪通过降低人力资本回报导致多重均衡，其中高犯罪、低教育、高失业和贫困相互关联。
Numerous studies document that criminal activity is positively related to unemployment and negatively related to educational attainment levels within given communities. We study this phenomenon in the context of a search‐equilibrium model, in which agents choose between formal employment and pursuing crime‐related activities (theft). Prior to their “occupational choices,” agents undertake costly schooling, raising their productivity. Crime acts, in essence, as a tax on human capital by affecting the probability that a worker's earnings (possessions) are subsequently appropriated. There are multiple equilibria. High crime, low levels of educational attainment, long spells of unemployment, and poverty are correlated across them.