Does more inequality mean more crime?
Date
2010-04
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Abstract
This paper investigates on the crime-inequality link in the Philippine setting. We study the correlation between Gini index and incidence of index crimes across provinces. We also examine the partial correlation by considering other socio-economic factors. The data combine cross-sectional data on 78 provinces and 2 time periods to produce a data set of 156 observations. Results show that income inequality has a positive and significant impact on crime, with an elasticity ranging from 1.2 to 1.4, even after controlling the effects of other potential determinants. Also, income, population density and unemployment have positive and significant effects on index crimes. By contrast, education and poverty have negative and significant effects on index crimes.
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Keywords
Crime rates, Crime, Crime inequality, Gini index, Crime index