The economics of private security expenditure: The influence of perceptions of crime (original) (raw)

What Matters More, Perceived or Real Crime?

Social Indicators Research

Crime consistently penetrates public and political debate, where crime, either perceived or real, shapes one’s sense of security, safety and wellbeing. This matters, as the perceived versus real dilemma influences policy decisions. But what matters most? Here the evidence is mixed with often highly inconsistent findings. Against this background, and employing more recent and arguably more robust econometric models, we compare the effect of real crime and perceived crime on self-reported life satisfaction after controlling for the effect of victimisation. We also explore the heterogenous effects of real crime and perceived crime among different socioeconomic and demographic groups. Overall, our results, across all model specifications, demonstrate that perceived crime always matters, while real crime only matters to those on high-incomes. We also find that females tend to be more sensitive to their perceptions, while living outside major cities does not have a significant effect. Our...

LESSONS FROM THE ECONOMICS OF CRIME: WHAT WORKS IN REDUCING OFFENDING?

2011

Abstract Most estimates of the cost of crime focus on victims. Yet it is plausible that an even larger cost of crime occurs via its indirect impact on the mental wellbeing of non-victims. To test how crime affects individuals' mental outcomes, we exploit detailed panel data on mental wellbeing, allowing us to observe the relationship between changes in crime in a local area and changes in the mental wellbeing of resident non-victims in that area (controlling for changes in local economic conditions).

Lessons from the Economics of Crime

2013

It is not unusual these days to have a group of economists gather to discuss their research on crime. In Europe and the Americas, a critical mass of academic economists have specialized in the study of crime and its control, and there is now a steady flow of economics doctoral dissertations on this topic. As we near the 50 th anniversary of Gary Becker's seminal contribution to this field (Becker, 1968), it is fair to say that the economics of crime is no longer a "fringe" topic, but part of the standard portfolio that makes up economics. Among the markers of progress are these: • The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) created a working group on crime that has had regular meetings since 2007 and published an edited conference volume in 2011 (Cook, Ludwig, and McCrary); • A new organization within LACEA (the Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association), with the acronym AL CAPONE (The America Latina Crime and Policy Network) held its first annual meeting in 2011; 1 • The Transatlantic Workshop on the Economics of Crime has been running annually since

Economics of Crime in the U.S: Panel Data Analysis (1980-2014)

In this paper, the relationship between crime and economic variables is examined. Using U.S state data of the highest ten states in property crime in 2012, we estimate the effect of four independent variables on property related crime rate. We used Ordinary Least Squares method in our panel data analysis for the data from 1980 to 2014. Negative relationship is found between crime and unemployment which matches Cantor and Land findings in (1985) for short term crime trends of the guardianship effect. Whereas a significant positive effect is shown by per capita real wages on crime rate. Our estimates suggest that a substantial portion of the decline in property crime rates during this period is attributable to the rise in the per capita real GDP and the decline in the high school dropout rate.

Income variables and the measures of gains from crime

Oxford Economic Papers, 2004

There is ambiguity in the empirical studies of crime economics regarding various income variables used to proxy the expected net gains from crime. As a result, the empirical findings are often mixed or contradictory to one another. This note provides a theoretical argument that relates the net expected gains from crime to a measure of income inequality (the Gini coefficient) and the mean income of a society, thereby clarifying the ambiguity.

The crime drop and the security hypothesis

Major crime drops were experienced in the United States and most other industrialized countries for a decade from the early to mid-1990s. Yet there is little agreement over explanation or lessons for policy. Here it is proposed that change in the quantity and quality of security was a key driver of the crime drop. From evidence relating to vehicle theft in two countries, it is concluded that electronic immobilizers and central locking were particularly effective. It is suggested that reduced car theft may have induced drops in other crime including violence. From this platform, a broader security hypothesis, linked to routine activity and opportunity theory, is outlined.