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The crime kuznets curve

Author

Listed:
  • Paolo Buonanno
  • Leopoldo Fergusson
  • Juan Fernando Vargas

Abstract

We document the existence of a Crime Kuznets Curve in US states since the 1970s. As income levels have risen, crime has followed an inverted U-shaped pattern, rst increasing and then dropping. The Crime Kuznets Curve is not explained by income inequality. In fact, we show that during the sample period inequality has risen monotonically with income, ruling out the traditional Kuznets Curve. Our nding is robust to adding a large set of controls that are used in the literature to explain the incidence of crime, as well as to controlling for state and year xed e ects. The Curve is also revealed in nonparametric speci cations. The Crime Kuznets Curve exists for property crime and for some categories of violent crime.

Suggested Citation

  • Paolo Buonanno & Leopoldo Fergusson & Juan Fernando Vargas, 2014. "The crime kuznets curve," Documentos de Trabajo 11083, Universidad del Rosario.
    • Handle: RePEc:col:000092:011083
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Crime Kuznets Curve; Income inequality; Non-parametric Kernel anal-ysis.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement

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