Inequality and Violent Crime: Evidence from Data on Robbery and Violent Theft

Eric Neumayer

Journal of Peace Research, 2005, vol. 42, issue 1, 101-112

Abstract: This article argues that the link between income inequality and violent property crime might be spurious, complementing a similar argument in prior analysis by the author on the determinants of homicide. In contrast, Fajnzylber, Lederman & Loayza provide seemingly strong and robust evidence that inequality causes a higher rate of both homicide and robbery/violent theft, even after controlling for country-specific fixed effects. The results in the present article suggest that inequality is not a statistically significant determinant, unless either country-specific effects are not controlled for or the sample is artificially restricted to a small number of countries. The reason for the link between inequality and violent property crime being spurious is that income inequality is likely to be strongly correlated with country-specific fixed effects, such as cultural differences. A high degree of inequality might be socially undesirable for any number of reasons, but that it causes violent crime is far from proven.

Date: 2005
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:joupea:v:42:y:2005:i:1:p:101-112

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