Inequality and crime revisited: effects of local inequality and economic segregation on crime
- Title
- Inequality and crime revisited: effects of local inequality and economic segregation on crime
- Author
- Kang, Songman
- Keywords
- Crime; Inequality; Poverty concentration; Inequality decomposition
- Issue Date
- 2016-04
- Publisher
- SPRINGER
- Citation
- JOURNAL OF POPULATION ECONOMICS, v. 29, NO 2, Page. 593-626
- Abstract
- Economic inequality has long been considered an important determinant of crime. Existing evidence, however, is mostly based on inadequately aggregated data sets, making its interpretation less than straightforward. Using tract-and county-level U.S. Census panel data, I decompose county-level income inequality into its within-and across-tract components and examine the extent to which county-level crime rates are influenced by local inequality and economic segregation. I find that the previously reported positive correlation between violent crime and economic inequality is largely driven by economic segregation across neighborhoods instead of within-neighborhood inequality. Moreover, there is little evidence of a significant empirical link between overall inequality and crime when county-and time-fixed effects are controlled for. On the other hand, a particular form of economic inequality, namely, poverty concentration, remains an important predictor of county-level crime rates.
- URI
- https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00148-015-0579-3http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11754/52536
- ISSN
- 0933-1433; 1432-1475
- DOI
- 10.1007/s00148-015-0579-3
- Appears in Collections:
- COLLEGE OF ECONOMICS AND FINANCE[S](경제금융대학) > ECONOMICS & FINANCE(경제금융학부) > Articles
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