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Happiness and Victimization in Latin America

Author

Listed:
  • Carolina Ortega Londoño

    (Universidad EAFIT)

  • Daniel Gómez Mesa

    (Universidad EAFIT)

  • Lina Cardona-Sosa

    (Banco de la República de Colombia)

  • Catalina Gómez Toro

    (Universidad EAFIT)

Abstract

This study examines the effect that crime victimization has on Latin American citizens’ life satisfaction. The data comes from the Americas Barometer Survey of 2014, a public opinion project that collects self-reported measures of life satisfaction. To overcome some of the methodological issues faced by previous studies, a generalized ordered logit with partial constraints is used to examine the existence of a relationship. The results reinforces the negative association between being a victim of a crime and an individual’s level of life satisfaction as found by previous studies. It also supports previous findings showing that what matters is being a direct victim of a crime rather than living in a country with high homicides rates. In both cases, the size of the relationship differs by country.

Suggested Citation

  • Carolina Ortega Londoño & Daniel Gómez Mesa & Lina Cardona-Sosa & Catalina Gómez Toro, 2019. "Happiness and Victimization in Latin America," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 20(3), pages 935-954, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jhappi:v:20:y:2019:i:3:d:10.1007_s10902-018-9981-3
    DOI: 10.1007/s10902-018-9981-3
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Carlos Medina & Jorge Andrés Tamayo, 2011. "An Assessment of How Urban Crime and Victimization Affects Life Satisfaction," Borradores de Economia 640, Banco de la Republica de Colombia.
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    Cited by:

    1. Cuizhen Xia & Lihua Zhou & Ya Wang & Xiaodong Pei, 2022. "Tibetan Herders’ Life Satisfaction and Determinants under the Pastureland Rehabilitation Program: A Case Study of Maduo County, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-17, February.
    2. Y. Grift & Annette van den Berg & Tina Dulam, 2021. "Economic hardship, institutions and subjective well-being in Latin America," Working Papers 2106, Utrecht School of Economics.
    3. Chenevier, Randall & Piper, Alan T. & Willis, Craig, 2021. "Migration, crime and life satisfaction in Chile: Pre and post-migration evidence," MPRA Paper 106502, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Crime; Happiness; Life satisfaction; Generalized ordered logit;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I3 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty
    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
    • D62 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Externalities

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