TITLE:
Hourly Wage and the Likelihood of Stealing an Item
AUTHORS:
Benjamin Borketey, David Borketey
KEYWORDS:
Crime, Hourly Wage, Male, Female, Logistic Regression
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Data Analysis and Information Processing,
Vol.12 No.2,
May
29,
2024
ABSTRACT: Researchers have extensively explored the impact of wages on individuals’ decisions to engage in property crimes. While most of these studies in the past have relied on macro-level data to investigate the relationship between crime rates and hourly wages, this paper takes a novel approach by utilizing micro-level data to examine the influence of hourly wages on the likelihood of stealing an item valued at least $50. The results obtained from the estimations reveal that an increase in hourly wage leads to a decrease in the probability of theft, all other factors being held constant. Further estimation by gender revealed that hourly wages given to both male and female have no bearing on the decision to steal. Additionally, the analysis of the differences in theft probabilities across gender and race demonstrates that males consistently exhibit a higher likelihood of engaging in theft when compared to females across various racial groups.