Weatherhead’s Mark Votruba discusses the complications of remote learning and his research on layoff and crime correlations

Layoffs Leading to a Higher Rate of Crime

America’s Work Force: Mark Votruba, associate professor of economics and interim chair of the department in the Weatherhead School of Management, joined the radio program to discuss two topics: the complications of teaching a college-level course through video chat, saying students are missing out on person-to-person interaction that is vital to learning. Votruba also talked about how layoffs and crime are correlated, focusing on his original research paper showing that males—who lost their jobs non-voluntarily through the downsizing or closing of plants—increased crime by 20 percent in the year after unemployment began.