Crime doesn't pay as much as you might think, say a group of British economists in Significance, the journal of Britain's Royal Statistical Society and the American Statistical Association. The study's authors, from the Universities of Surrey and Suffolk, provide what they call the first "independent econometric analysis" of bank heists, using data from the FBI and British Bankers' Association. Their conclusion? "Statistically speaking, robbing banks is a bad idea. The return on an average bank robbery is, frankly, rubbish. It is not unimaginable wealth." How bad is the pay? Here's a look, by the numbers:
$7,500
Average haul for U.S. bank robberies in 2010
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$4,330
Average haul for U.S. bank robberies in 2006
5,500
U.S. bank robberies in 2010
7,500+
U.S. bank robberies in 2005
1,445
U.S. bank robberies where the thief showed a gun in 2010
13
U.S. bank robbers killed during heists in 2010
1.6
Average number of bank robbers in each heist
60
Percent of bank robberies carried out by one thief
$14,070
Amount each additional thief adds to the take in bank raids
106
Bank robberies in the U.K. in 2007
$31,668
Average haul for British bank heists (2005-08)
$19,700
Average per-thief haul from a British bank heist
$20,000
Average half-year income for full-time employed Britons
$950,000
Biggest British bank taking in 2007
33
Percent of bank robberies that yield nothing
20
Percent of British bank robbers who get caught and jailed
3
Average number of successful bank heists before a robber is caught
22
Percent of U.S. bank robberies where the cash was recovered (2010)
50
Percent of thefts thwarted by fast-rising bank-teller screens
$7,000
Cost of each of those screens
12
Percent of British banks that use the screens, with fewer still in the U.S.
Sources: Fiscal Times, Significance [PDF], SmartPlanet, Telegraph, U.S. News
