IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/reveco/v99y2025ics1059056025001881.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Dangerous density: Urban density and the criminalization of China

Author

Listed:
  • Ma, Ning
  • Chen, Lu
  • Zeng, Zihan

Abstract

We utilized publicly available data from criminal judgments in China and a range of remotely sensed data to examine the impact of urban density on the crime risk of urban residents. Exploiting population features to instrument for density, we found a statistically significant crime-density elasticity around 0.09–0.18. The findings of this study indicate that population density has a greater impact on economic crime than other factors. This effect is particularly pronounced in medium-sized cities. The increase in the density of new businesses brings more revenue to criminals, while the improvement of the road network reduces the risk of being caught. In the context of high population density, the overstretched police force makes it easier for criminals to enter high-density areas to commit crimes.

Suggested Citation

  • Ma, Ning & Chen, Lu & Zeng, Zihan, 2025. "Dangerous density: Urban density and the criminalization of China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:reveco:v:99:y:2025:i:c:s1059056025001881
    DOI: 10.1016/j.iref.2025.104025
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1059056025001881
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.iref.2025.104025?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Urban density; Crimes rate; Negative externality; Agglomeration;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O18 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes
    • K14 - Law and Economics - - Basic Areas of Law - - - Criminal Law

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:reveco:v:99:y:2025:i:c:s1059056025001881. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/620165 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.