An Economic Analysis of Hate Crime

Lewis Gale (), Will Heath and Rand Ressler ()
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Will Heath: University of Louisiana at Lafayette

Eastern Economic Journal, 2002, vol. 28, issue 2, 203-216

Abstract: Utilizing an established economic framework grounded in Becker's (1981) path-breaking analysis of altruism and envy within the family, this paper explores the determinants of hate crimes, also known as bias-motivated crimes. Making use of a unique data set on hate crimes compiled by the FBI, we estimate the determinants of hate crimes across states using both random- and fixed-effects approaches. While there are limitations in the use of bias-motivation crime data in empirical analysis, we find statistical significance between the incidence of hate crime and several economic and socioeconomic variables. Most notably, among non-South states, a higher hate crime rate is associated with higher abuse rates, higher unemployment rates, and greater parity of black and white incomes.

Keywords: Bias; Crime (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J15 J71 K14 K42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2002
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (16)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eej:eeconj:v:28:y:2002:i:2:p:203-216

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