Economics and Youth Violence

How do economic conditions such as poverty, unemployment, inflation, and economic growth impact youth violence? Economics and Youth Violence provides a much-needed new perspective on this crucial issue. Pinpointing the economic factors that are most important, the editors and contributors in this volume explore how different kinds of economic issues impact children, adolescents, and their families, schools, and communities. Offering new and important insights regarding the relationship between macroeconomic conditions and youth violence across a variety of times and places, chapters cover such issues as the effect of inflation on youth violence; new quantitative analysis of the connection between race, economic opportunity, and violence; and the cyclical nature of criminal backgrounds and economic disadvantage among families. Highlighting the complexities in the relationship between economic conditions, juvenile offenses, and the community and situational contexts in which their connections are forged, Economics and Youth Violence prompts important questions that will guide future research on the causes and prevention of youth violence. Richard Rosenfeld is Curators Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Missouri - St. Louis. Mark Edberg is Associate Professor at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services. Xiangming Fang is Professor of Economics and Director of the International Center for Applied Economics and Policy in the College of Economics and Management at China Agricultural University. Curtis S. Florence is the lead health economist for the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC).