Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP7467
Authors: Armin Falk; Andreas Kuhn; Josef Zweimüller
Abstract: It is frequently argued that unemployment plays a crucial role for the occurrence of right-wing extremist crimes. We empirically test this hypothesis using data from Germany. We find that right-wing criminal activities occur more frequently when unemployment is high. The big difference in right-wing crime between East and West German states can mostly be attributed to differences in unemployment. This finding reinforces the importance of unemployment as an explanatory factor for right-wing crime and questions explanations based solely on the different socialization in former communist East Germany and the liberal West German states.
Keywords: cost of unemployment; hate crime; rightwing extremism; unemployment
JEL Codes: J15; J69; K42
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Unemployment (high levels) (J64) | Environment conducive to rightwing extremist activities (P14) |
| Youth unemployment (J64) | Rightwing extremist crime rates (K42) |
| Unemployment (J64) | Rightwing extremist crime rates (K42) |
| Unemployment disparities (J79) | Differences in rightwing extremist crime rates between East and West Germany (P37) |
| Total unemployment (J64) | Rightwing extremist crime rates (K42) |