Crime and Social Interactions

Edward Glaeser, Bruce Sacerdote () and Jose Scheinkman

No 5026, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: The high degree of variance of crime rates across space (and across time) is one of the oldest puzzles in the social sciences (see Quetelet (1835)). Our empirical work strongly suggests that this variance is not the result of observed or unobserved geographic attributes. This paper presents a model where social interactions create enough covariance across individuals to explain the high cross- city variance of crime rates. This model provides a natural index of social interactions which can compare the degree of social interaction across crimes, across geographic 1units and across time. Our index gives similar results for different data samples and suggests that the amount of social interactions are highest in petty crimes (such as larceny and auto theft), moderate in more serious crimes (assault, burglary and robbery) and almost negligible in murder and rape. The index of social interactions is also applied to non-criminal choices and we find that there is substantial interaction in schooling choice.

JEL-codes: D00 K42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1995-02
Note: EFG LS
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (20)

Published as Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 111, no. 2 (May 1996): 507-548.

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Journal Article: Crime and Social Interactions (1996)
Working Paper: Crime and Social Interactions (1995)
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