Thieves, Thugs, and Neighborhood Poverty

David Bjerk ()

No 4470, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This paper develops a model of crime analyzing how such behavior is associated with individual and neighborhood poverty. The model shows that even under relatively minimal assumptions, a connection between individual poverty and both property and violent crimes will arise, and moreover, "neighborhood" effects can develop, but will differ substantially in nature across crime types. A key implication is that greater economic segregation in a city should have no effect or a negative effect on property crime, but a positive effect on violent crime. Using IV methods, I show this implication to be consistent with the empirical evidence.

Keywords: instrumental variables; poverty; crime; neighborhood effects; segregation; public housing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I38 K42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 44 pages
Date: 2009-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-geo, nep-law and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Published - published in: Journal of Urban Economics, 2010, 68 (3), 231 - 246

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Journal Article: Thieves, thugs, and neighborhood poverty (2010)
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