Crime, inequality and subsidized housing: Evidence from South Africa

Roxana Elena Manea, Patrizio Piraino and Martina Viarengo

World Development, 2023, vol. 168, issue C

Abstract: We study the relationship between housing inequality and crime in South Africa. We create a novel panel dataset combining information on crime at the police station level with census data. Our analysis shows that housing inequality explains a significant share of the variation in both property and violent crimes, net of spillover effects, time and district fixed effects. An increase of roughly one standard deviation in housing inequality explains 10–12 percent of total crime increases. Additionally, we analyze a prominent housing program for low-income South Africans to show that policies that decrease inequality in housing conditions may also reduce crime. We suggest that these policies can help mitigate the societal and individual strains that are often correlated with criminal engagement.

Keywords: Inequality; Crime; Economic development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Working Paper: Crime, Inequality and Subsidized Housing: Evidence from South Africa (2021)
Working Paper: Crime, Inequality and Subsidized Housing:Evidence from South Africa (2021)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:168:y:2023:i:c:s0305750x2300061x

DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2023.106243

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