Scandinavian Working Papers in Economics

Working Paper Series,
Stockholm University, Swedish Institute for Social Research

No 11/2011: The Origins of Intergenerational Associations in Crime: Lessons from Swedish Adoption Data

Randi Hjalmarsson () and Matthew J. Lindquist ()
Additional contact information
Randi Hjalmarsson: Queen Mary, U. of London, School of Economics and Finance
Matthew J. Lindquist: Swedish Institute for Social Research, Stockholm University, Postal: SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden

Abstract: We use Swedish adoption data combined with police register data to study parent-son associations in crime. For adopted sons born in Sweden, we have access to the criminal records of both the adopting and biological parents. This allows us to assess the relative importance of pre-birth factors (genes, prenatal environment and perinatal conditions) and post-birth factors for generating parent-son associations in crime. When considering the extensive margin, we find that pre-birth and post-birth factors are both important determinants of sons’ convictions and that mothers and fathers contribute equally through these two channels. At the intensive margin, pre-birth factors still matter, however post-birth factors appear to dominate. In particular, adopting mothers appear to matter most for the probability that sons will be convicted of multiple crimes and/or be sentenced to prison. We find little evidence of interaction effects between biological and adoptive parents’ criminal convictions. Having more highly educated adoptive parents, however, does appear to mitigate the impact of biological parents’ criminality.

Keywords: adoption; crime; illegal behavior; intergenerational crime; intergenerational mobility; risky behavior.

JEL-codes: J62; K42

49 pages, October 12, 2011

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