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Counting the cost of crime in Italy

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Listed:
  • Claudio Detotto
  • Marco Vannini

Abstract

We gauge the cost of crime in Italy by concentrating on a subset of offences covering about 64% of total recorded crimes in the year 2006. Following the breakdown of costs put forward by Brand and Price, we focus on the costs in anticipation, as a consequence, and in response to a specific offence. The estimated total social cost is more than €38 billion, which amounts to about 2.6% of Italy's GDP. To show the usefulness of these measures, we borrow the elasticity estimates from recent studies concerning the determinants of crime in Italy and calculate the cost associated with the surge in crime fuelled by unemployment and pardons. Indeed, in both cases such costs are substantial, implying that they should no longer be skipped when assessing the relative desirability of public policies towards crime.

Suggested Citation

  • Claudio Detotto & Marco Vannini, 2010. "Counting the cost of crime in Italy," Global Crime, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(4), pages 421-435, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:fglcxx:v:11:y:2010:i:4:p:421-435
    DOI: 10.1080/17440572.2010.519523
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    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Italian Crime Fact of the Day
      by Ariel Goldring in Free Market Mojo on 2010-10-05 16:00:53

    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Ms. Concha Verdugo Yepes & Mr. Peter L. Pedroni & Xingwei Hu, 2015. "Crime and the Economy in Mexican States: Heterogeneous Panel Estimates (1993-2012)," IMF Working Papers 2015/121, International Monetary Fund.
    2. Oliviero A. Carboni & Claudio Detotto, 2016. "The economic consequences of crime in Italy," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 43(1), pages 122-140, January.
    3. Alessandro Barbarino & Giovanni Mastrobuoni, 2014. "The Incapacitation Effect of Incarceration: Evidence from Several Italian Collective Pardons," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 6(1), pages 1-37, February.
    4. Luca Zanin & Rosalba Radice & Giampiero Marra, 2013. "Estimating the Effect of Perceived Risk of Crime on Social Trust in the Presence of Endogeneity Bias," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 114(2), pages 523-547, November.
    5. Umbach, Tim, 2020. "A Vicious Cycle of Regional Unemployment and Crime? - Evidence from German Counties," VfS Annual Conference 2020 (Virtual Conference): Gender Economics 224611, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    6. Sorin M. S. Krammer & Addisu A. Lashitew & Jonathan P. Doh & Hari Bapuji, 2023. "Income inequality, social cohesion, and crime against businesses: Evidence from a global sample of firms," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 54(2), pages 385-400, March.
    7. Chau-kiu Cheung & Wing Hong Chui, 2021. "Crime Costs to the Public in Hong Kong," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 157(1), pages 283-296, August.
    8. Detotto, Claudio & Pulina, Manuela, 2010. "Assessing substitution and complementary effects amongst crime typologies," MPRA Paper 20046, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Gaetano Perone, 2018. "I costi della criminalità organizzata nel settore agroalimentare italiano," Moneta e Credito, Economia civile, vol. 71(281), pages 37-66.
    10. Gaetano Perone, 2020. "The impact of agribusiness crimes on food prices: evidence from Italy," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 37(3), pages 877-909, October.
    11. Federico Cingano & Marco Tonello, 2020. "Law Enforcement, Social Control and Organized Crime: Evidence from Local Government Dismissals in Italy," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 6(2), pages 221-254, July.
    12. Tânia Dias & Pedro Sousa, 2012. "Explicit Social Costs Of Crime In A Time Of Crisis - Costs Of Law Enforcement In The Drivers’ Crimes," Book Chapters, in: João Sousa Andrade & Marta C. N. Simões & Ivan Stosic & Dejan Eric & Hasan Hanic (ed.), Managing Structural Changes - Trends and Requirements, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 6, pages 111-128, Institute of Economic Sciences.
    13. Paolo Buonanno & Daniel Montolio & Josep Raya-Vílchez, 2013. "Housing prices and crime perception," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 45(1), pages 305-321, August.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • K00 - Law and Economics - - General - - - General (including Data Sources and Description)
    • D61 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Allocative Efficiency; Cost-Benefit Analysis
    • H50 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - General

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