Homelessness and Crime: Do Your Friends Matter?

Corno L. "Homelessness and Crime: Do your friends matter?", The Economic Journal, Forthcoming

57 Pages Posted: 22 Jul 2015 Last revised: 31 Aug 2015

See all articles by Lucia Corno

Lucia Corno

Queen Mary, University of London

Date Written: July 20, 2015

Abstract

This paper investigates the influence of friends on crime, using data I collected among the homeless. To estimate the causal effects of friends and of the share of criminal friends on crime, I rely on two instruments. The first is the share of rainy days during one's first year as homeless: rainfall fosters homeless' concentration in sheltered places and increases the probability of interactions. The second is the share of inmates released during one's first year as homeless, which affects the supply of criminal friends. I find that one additional friend decreases the probability of incarceration but criminal friends increases it.

Keywords: Peer effects, crime, homeless

JEL Classification: J0; K42

Suggested Citation

Corno, Lucia, Homelessness and Crime: Do Your Friends Matter? (July 20, 2015). Corno L. "Homelessness and Crime: Do your friends matter?", The Economic Journal, Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2633516

Lucia Corno (Contact Author)

Queen Mary, University of London ( email )

Mile End Road
London, London E1 4NS
United Kingdom

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