Foreclosure, Vacancy and Crime

Lin Cui and Randall Walsh

No 20593, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: This paper examines the impact of residential foreclosures and vacancies on violent and property crime. To overcome confounding factors, a difference-in-difference research design is applied to a unique data set containing geocoded foreclosure and crime data from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Results indicate that while foreclosure alone has no effect on crime, violent crime rates increase by roughly 19% once the foreclosed home becomes vacant -an effect that increases with length of vacancy. We find weak evidence suggesting a potential vacancy effect for property crime that is much lower in magnitude.

JEL-codes: J18 R14 R3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-law and nep-ure
Note: PE
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Published as Cui, Lin & Walsh, Randall, 2015. "Foreclosure, vacancy and crime," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 72-84.

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Journal Article: Foreclosure, vacancy and crime (2015)
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