Does Growing Up in a High Crime Neighborhood Affect Youth Criminal Behavior?
利用丹麦难民安置的准自然实验，发现邻里暴力犯罪率会显著增加男性青少年日后的犯罪概率，而其他犯罪指标无此效应，表明社会互动是关键传导渠道。
This paper investigates the effect of early exposure to neighborhood crime on subsequent criminal behavior of youth exploiting a unique natural experiment between 1986 and 1998 when refugee immigrants to Denmark were assigned to neighborhoods quasi-randomly. We find strong evidence that the share of young people convicted for crimes, in particular violent crimes, in the neighborhood increases convictions of male assignees later in life. No such effects are found for other measures of neighborhood crime including the rate of committed crimes. Our findings suggest social interaction as a key channel through which neighborhood crime is linked to individual criminal behavior.