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What Part Of The Income Distribution Matters For Explaining Property Crime? The Case Of Colombia

Author

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  • JAIRO NÚNEZ
  • FABIO SÁNCHEZ
  • FRANÇOIS BOURGUIGNON

Abstract

Inequality has always been taken as a major explanatory factor of the rate of crime. Yet, the evidence in favor of that hypothesis is weak. Pure cross-sectional analyses show significant positive effects but do not control for fixed effects. Time series and panel data point to a variety of results, but few turn out being significant. The hypothesis maintained in this paper is that it is a specific part of the distribution, rather than the overall distribution as summarized by conventional inequality measures, that is most likely to influence the rate of (property) crime in a given society. Using a simple theoretical model and panel data in 7 Colombian cities over a 20 year period, we design a method that permits identifying the precise segment of the population whose relative income best explains time changes in crime.

Suggested Citation

  • Jairo Núnez & Fabio Sánchez & François Bourguignon, 2003. "What Part Of The Income Distribution Matters For Explaining Property Crime? The Case Of Colombia," Documentos CEDE 3775, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    • Handle: RePEc:col:000089:003775
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    File URL: https://repositorio.uniandes.edu.co/bitstream/handle/1992/8302/dcede2003-07.pdf
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Felipe Barrera Osorio, 2004. "Dynamics and causes of crime in Colombia," Informes de Investigación 2387, Fedesarrollo.
    2. Mejía, Leonardo Bonilla, 2010. "Demografía, juventud y homicidios en Colombia, 1979-2006," Revista Lecturas de Economía, Universidad de Antioquia, CIE, August.
    3. Yoonseok Lee, Donggyun Shin, Kwanho Shin, 2013. "Social Consequences of Economic Segregation," Korean Economic Review, Korean Economic Association, vol. 29, pages 189-210.
    4. Soeren C. Schwuchow, 2023. "Organized crime as a link between inequality and corruption," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 55(3), pages 469-509, June.
    5. Michal Brzezinski, 2013. "Top income shares and crime," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(4), pages 309-315, March.
    6. Choe, Jongmook, 2008. "Income inequality and crime in the United States," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 101(1), pages 31-33, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Crime economics;

    JEL classification:

    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models

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