Down and out in Italian towns: Measuring the impact of economic downturns on crime

•The paper investigates the causal impact of economic downturn on crime, focusing on the Italian case.•The Downturns led to significant increase in economic-related offenses which require low criminal skills.•Non-economic crimes, such as murders, are not influenced by economic fluctuations.

The paper investigates the effect of local economic conditions on crime. The study focuses on Italy's local labor markets and analyzes the response of crime to the severe slump of 2007-2011. It shows that the downturn led to a significant increase in economic-related offenses that do not require particular criminal skills or tools (namely, thefts).