Crime and Declining Unionization

In an article entitled "Crime and the Decline of Unions," economics professors Robert Baumann and Bryan Engelhardt of the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts estimate the elasticity of crime with respect to union membership.  They contend that the drop in US union membership between 1993 and 2006, along with the loss of well-paying blue-collar jobs, increased property crime by 15%.  For every percentage point drop in unionization, larceny, arson, burglaries, and auto theft are predicted to increase by roughly 140 crimes per 100,000 people.