Analytical Problems in Explaining Criminal Behavior: Neoclassical and Radical Economic Theories and an Alternative Formulation

Abstract

Neoclassical economic theories of criminal behavior treat crimes as a product of individual choices about time allocation among activities. By contrast, radical political economic approaches focus not on individual choices but on the social conditions underlying crime, although an important subclass of radical theories is operationally quite similar to a neoclassical approach. In any case, neither approach adequately accounts for the links between the conditions of individual choice, or social conditions, and criminal behavior by individuals. Moreover, both approaches have failed to deal satisfactorily with anomalous empirical findings that contradict their implications. This paper proposes some theoretical reasons for these failings and suggests an alternative specification for modeling individual behavior, which allows some test of the adequacy of neoclassical and radical understanding of individual behavior.