CReAM researchers’ expertise in applied economic techniques is also used to illuminate a broad range of social issues such as crime, mental health, racial harassment, and teenage pregnancy.
1. Crime and networks
One of the key questions in crime research is whether criminal behaviour is contagious, i.e. whether tendencies toward criminal behaviour can spill over from one person to the next. If that is indeed the case, then crime reduction programmes can be doubly useful, not only by eliminating future crime of a targeted potential offender, but also crime that would have been committed by those who are affected by that focal individual.
Current and past research investigates questions that include: Are there behavioural spillovers in crime and to what extent do these magnify the social benefits from crime reduction policies? Do such effects differ between urban and rural areas? Does exposure to crime differ in how it affects men and women? Is there evidence that crime exposure increases teenage pregnancy?
2. Victims of crime
Crime creates victims. Victimisation may have serious consequences for the affected individuals in terms of their future career prospects, health, or personal life. In addition, crime may have adverse effects even on those who are not directly involved, by provoking fears of crime that may have serious consequences for non-victims, affecting their mental wellbeing and restricting their daily routine.
Past and current research investigates questions such as: How does crime impact on the mental health of individuals who are exposed to high levels of criminal activity in their immediate neighbourhood? Who are the victims of crime? How does victimisation affect wellbeing, welfare dependence, earnings and other labour market outcomes over the life cycle? How does victimisation affect those who are close to victims, such as partners and children?
3. Attitudes towards minorities and racial harassment
Past and current research analyses the evolution of attitudes towards minorities and how they relate to ethnic concentration. Research also investigates the association between the spatial concentration of ethnic minorities and racial harassment, asking whether hostility in the attitudes of majority individuals finds expression in harassment behaviour, and how this is related to the probability that minority individuals meet majority individuals and the cost of aggressively expressing hostility.
CReAM researchers publish their findings on this and other topics in top peer-reviewed journals. Click here to see our published research.