The Effect of Education on Crime: Evidence from Prison Inmates, Arrests, and Self-Reports
Open accessAbstract
We estimate the effect of education on participation in criminal activity using changes in state compulsory schooling laws over time to account for the endogeneity of schooling decisions. Using Census and FBI data, we find that schooling significantly reduces the probability of incarceration and arrest. NLSY data indicate that our results are caused by changes in criminal behavior and not differences in the probability of arrest or incarceration conditional on crime. We estimate that the social savings from crime reduction associated with high school graduation (for men) is about 14–26 percent of the private return.
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Years of education are negatively associated with criminal activities in the US and UK.
“Lochner and Moretti [2004] and Machin, Marie and Vujić [2010] find that years of education are negatively associated with criminal activities in the US and UK, respectively.”
From Personality Psychology and Economics (2011) · cites this paper as Lochner and Moretti [2004]
Other researchers using regression discontinuity analysis have estimated effects of education on rates of crime, arrest, and incarceration in the United States and on teenage births in the United States and Norway.
“Other researchers have used regression discontinuity analysis to estimate the effects of education on rates of crime, arrest, and incarceration in the United States46 and on teenage births in the United States and Norway.47”
From Education improves public health and promotes health equity (2015) · cites this paper as [46]
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- Authors
- Lochner, L., & Moretti, E.
- Affiliations
- Western University (CA)
- National Bureau of Economic Research (US)
- Venue
- American Economic Review
- Publisher
- American Economic Association
- Published
- 2004-02-01
- Volume
- 94
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 155-189
- ISSN
- 0002-8282 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2025983490
- Cited by
- 2,032
- References
- 25
- Citations by year
- 2026: 76 · 2025: 82 · 2024: 79 · 2023: 89 · 2022: 92 · 2021: 103 · 2020: 87 · 2019: 115 · 2018: 96 · 2017: 106 · 2016: 116 · 2015: 123 · 2014: 117 · 2013: 132 · 2012: 110
- FWCI
- 60.63
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- doi.org
- Locations
- American Economic Review (publishedVersion)
- National Bureau of Economic Research (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- SSRN Electronic Journal (submittedVersion)
- eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Crime Patterns and Interventions
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis
- Social Sciences › Law › Criminal Justice and Penology
- Keywords
- education, crime, compulsory education law, incarceration, arrests, criminal behavior, high school graduation, returns to education, endogeneity of schooling
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