IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ehl/lserod/121729.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Crime and mental wellbeing

Author

Listed:
  • Cornaglia, Francesca
  • Leigh, Andrew

Abstract

Most estimates of the cost of crime focus on victims. Yet it is plausible that an even larger cost of crime occurs via its indirect impact on the mental wellbeing of non-victims. To test how crime affects individuals’ mental outcomes, we exploit detailed panel data on mental wellbeing, allowing us to observe the relationship between changes in crime in a local area and changes in the mental wellbeing of resident non-victims in that area (controlling for changes in local economic conditions). Our results suggest that increases in crime rates have a negative impact on the mental wellbeing of residents, with the biggest impacts arising from violent crime. We also find that local press coverage of criminal activity enhances the effect of crime on mental well-being.

Suggested Citation

  • Cornaglia, Francesca & Leigh, Andrew, 2011. "Crime and mental wellbeing," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 121729, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:121729
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/121729/
    File Function: Open access version.
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Raphael, Steven & Winter-Ember, Rudolf, 2001. "Identifying the Effect of Unemployment on Crime," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 44(1), pages 259-283, April.
    2. Carol Propper & Simon Burgess & Anne Bolster & George Leckie & Kelvyn Jones & Ron Johnston, 2007. "The Impact of Neighbourhood on the Income and Mental Health of British Social Renters," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 44(2), pages 393-415, February.
    3. Brian Jacob & Lars Lefgren & Enrico Moretti, 2007. "The Dynamics of Criminal Behavior: Evidence from Weather Shocks," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 42(3).
    4. Whitley, Rob & Prince, Martin, 2005. "Fear of crime, mobility and mental health in inner-city London, UK," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(8), pages 1678-1688, October.
    5. Francesca Cornaglia & Naomi E. Feldman & Andrew Leigh, 2014. "Crime and Mental Well-Being," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 49(1), pages 110-140.
    6. Brazier, John & Roberts, Jennifer & Deverill, Mark, 2002. "The estimation of a preference-based measure of health from the SF-36," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 271-292, March.
    7. repec:pri:cheawb:kling_mto481 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Steve Gibbons, 2004. "The Costs of Urban Property Crime," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 114(499), pages 441-463, November.
    9. repec:pri:indrel:dsp01qz20ss50t is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Leigh L. Linden & Jonah E. Rockoff, 2006. "There Goes the Neighborhood? Estimates of the Impact of Crime Risk on Property Values From Megan's Laws," NBER Working Papers 12253, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Jeffrey R. Kling & Jeffrey B. Liebman & Lawrence F. Katz & Lisa Sanbonmatsu, 2004. "Moving to Opportunity and Tranquility: Neighborhood Effects on Adult Economic Self-Sufficiency and Health From a Randomized Housing Voucher Experiment," Working Papers 5, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    12. Lawrence F. Katz & Jeffrey R. Kling & Jeffrey B. Liebman, 2001. "Moving to Opportunity in Boston: Early Results of a Randomized Mobility Experiment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 116(2), pages 607-654.
    13. Thaler, Richard, 1978. "A note on the value of crime control: Evidence from the property market," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 137-145, January.
    14. Philip Oreopoulos, 2003. "The Long-Run Consequences of Living in a Poor Neighborhood," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(4), pages 1533-1575.
    15. Frijters, Paul & Johnston, David W. & Shields, Michael A., 2008. "Happiness Dynamics with Quarterly Life Event Data," IZA Discussion Papers 3604, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. repec:pri:cheawb:kling_mto481.pdf is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Frijters, Paul & Johnston, David W. & Shields, Michael A., 2010. "Mental Health and Labour Market Participation: Evidence from IV Panel Data Models," IZA Discussion Papers 4883, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Jeffrey Kling & Jeffrey B. Liebman & Lawrence F. Katz, 2001. "Bullets Don't Got No Name: Consequences of Fear in the Ghetto," JCPR Working Papers 225, Northwestern University/University of Chicago Joint Center for Poverty Research.
    19. repec:pri:cheawb:bullets042601 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Michael Shields & Stephen Wheatley Price & Mark Wooden, 2009. "Life satisfaction and the economic and social characteristics of neighbourhoods," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 22(2), pages 421-443, April.
    21. Stafford, M. & Chandola, T. & Marmot, M., 2007. "Association between fear of crime and mental health and physical functioning," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 97(11), pages 2076-2081.
    22. repec:pri:cheawb:bullets042601.pdf is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Janke, K. & Propper, C. & Shields, M.A., 2013. "Does Violent Crime Deter Physical Activity?," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 13/26, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    2. Kling, Jeffrey & Liebman, Jeffrey, 2004. "Experimental Analysis of Neighborhood Effects on Youth," Working Paper Series rwp04-034, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    3. Patrick Bayer & Stephen L. Ross, 2006. "Identifying Individual and Group Effects in the Presence of Sorting: A Neighborhood Effects Application," Working papers 2006-13, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics, revised Jan 2009.
    4. Fafchamps, Marcel & Minten, Bart, 2006. "Crime, Transitory Poverty, and Isolation: Evidence from Madagascar," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 54(3), pages 579-603, April.
    5. Alloush, Mo & Bloem, Jeffrey R., 2022. "Neighborhood violence, poverty, and psychological well-being," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    6. Pope, Jaren C., 2008. "Fear of crime and housing prices: Household reactions to sex offender registries," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(3), pages 601-614, November.
    7. Avdic, Daniel & Bünnings, Christian, 2015. "Does the Burglar Also Disturb the Neighbor? Crime Spillovers on Individual Well-being," Ruhr Economic Papers 540, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    8. Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa & Smyth, Russell & Trinh, Trong-Anh & Yew, Siew Ling, 2022. "Local crime and fertility," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 312-331.
    9. Gundi Knies & Patricia C Melo & Min Zhang, 2021. "Neighbourhood deprivation, life satisfaction and earnings: Comparative analyses of neighbourhood effects at bespoke scales," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(13), pages 2640-2659, October.
    10. Congdon-Hohman, Joshua M., 2013. "The lasting effects of crime: The relationship of discovered methamphetamine laboratories and home values," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 31-41.
    11. Paul Cheshire, 2009. "Policies for Mixed Communities," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 32(3), pages 343-375, July.
    12. Daniel Avdic & Christian Bünnings, 2015. "Does the Burglar Also Disturb the Neighbor? Crime Spillovers on Individual Well-being," Ruhr Economic Papers 0540, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.
    13. Adriaan R. Soetevent, 2006. "Empirics of the Identification of Social Interactions; An Evaluation of the Approaches and Their Results," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(2), pages 193-228, April.
    14. Brushwood, James & Dhaliwal, Dan & Fairhurst, Douglas & Serfling, Matthew, 2016. "Property crime, earnings variability, and the cost of capital," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 142-173.
    15. repec:zbw:rwirep:0540 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa & Smyth, Russell, 2022. "Locus of control and the mental health effects of local area crime," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 301(C).
    17. Daniel Hartley, 2010. "Blowing it up and knocking it down: the effect of demolishing high concentration public housing on crime," Working Papers (Old Series) 1022, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
    18. Jacob Vigdor & Jens Ludwig, 2007. "Segregation and the Black-White Test Score Gap," NBER Working Papers 12988, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. repec:zbw:rwirep:0541 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Panka Bencsik, 2018. "Stress on the Sidewalk: Mental health costs of close proximity crime," 2018 Papers pbe976, Job Market Papers.
    21. Nicola Suppa, 2015. "Towards a Multidimensional Poverty Index for Germany," Ruhr Economic Papers 0541, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.
    22. Gordon B. Dahl & Anne C. Gielen, 2021. "Intergenerational Spillovers in Disability Insurance," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 13(2), pages 116-150, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    neighbourhood effects; health; mental health; fear of crime;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • K14 - Law and Economics - - Basic Areas of Law - - - Criminal Law
    • R20 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - General

    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:ehl:lserod:121729. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: LSERO Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/lsepsuk.html .

    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.