Regional Market Income Inequality and its Impact on Crime in Germany: A Spatial Panel Data Approach with Local Spillovers

Süß Philipp ()
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Süß Philipp: Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main, Empirische Wirtschaftsforschung und Internationale Wirtschaftspolitik, Theodor-W.-Adorno-Platz 4, Frankfurt am Main60323, Germany

Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), 2020, vol. 240, issue 4, 387-415

Abstract: Economic theory predicts a positive effect of an increase in income inequality on the prevalence of crime, but the international empirical evidence is mixed. For Germany, research on this topic is virtually non-existent. Therefore, I used fixed effect regressions to estimate the effect of a market income inequality proxy on property damages, thefts from motor vehicles, domestic burglaries and assaults in Germany. The models without spatial lags suggest economically small to moderate own-district elasticities between 0.13 and 0.95. The models with spatial lags generally show insignificant own-district estimates, but significant spatial spillovers.

Keywords: crime; inequality; spatial fixed effects; local spillovers (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J39 K14 R12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:jns:jbstat:v:240:y:2020:i:4:p:387-415:n:2

DOI: 10.1515/jbnst-2018-0052

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