The impact of social capital on crime: Evidence from the Netherlands

Semih Akçomak and Bas ter Weel

Regional Science and Urban Economics, 2012, vol. 42, issue 1-2, 323-340

Abstract: This research shows that social capital is important in explaining why crime is so heterogeneous across space. Social capital is considered as a latent construct composed of a variety of indicators, such as blood donations, voter turnout, voluntary contributions to community well-being, and trust. To isolate exogenous variation in social capital, three historical variables are used as instruments: the fraction of foreigners, the number of schools and the fraction of Protestants in 1859. The historical information provides heterogeneity across municipalities in these three variables. In an application to Dutch municipalities the 2SLS estimates suggest that the exogenous component of social capital is significantly and negatively correlated with current crime rates, after controlling for a range of contemporaneous socio-economic indicators. Next, the robustness analysis shows why some social capital indicators are more useful than others in applied economic research.

Keywords: Social capital; Crime; The Netherlands (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A13 A14 K42 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (34)

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Related works:
Working Paper: The impact of social capital on crime: Evidence from the Netherlands (2009)
Working Paper: The Impact of Social Capital on Crime: Evidence from the Netherlands (2008)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:regeco:v:42:y:2012:i:1:p:323-340

DOI: 10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2011.09.008

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