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Crime and social expenditure: A political economic approach

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  • Bethencourt, Carlos

Abstract

High-income and less unequal societies are associated with both lower rates of economic crimes and larger public programs to deter crime. This paper suggests that redistributive effects generated by a crime-control program help to explain these facts. Retirees and honest individuals are beneficiaries of the system because they do not offend. Despite paying more taxes, high-income dishonest agents become net receivers, as they devote relatively less time to criminal activities than poorer agents; thus, a regressive intra-generational redistributive effect arises. Consequently, a crime-control program may be politically supported by a coalition of retirees, honest individuals and high-income dishonest young agents.

Suggested Citation

  • Bethencourt, Carlos, 2022. "Crime and social expenditure: A political economic approach," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:poleco:v:75:y:2022:i:c:s0176268022000040
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2022.102183
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    2. Iliopoulos, Panagiotis & De Witte, Kristof, 2024. "The expenditure composition and trade-offs in local government budgets," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Crime; Overlapping generations model; Inequality; Voting;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H53 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Welfare Programs
    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law

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