Arbeitspapier

Inequality and Crime: Separating the Effects of Permanent and Transitory Income

Earlier studies on income inequality and crime have typically used total income or total earnings. However, it is quite likely that it is changes in permanent rather than in transitory income that affects crime rates. The purpose of this paper is therefore to disentangle the two effects by, first, estimating region-specific inequality in permanent and transitory income and, second, estimating crime equations with the two separate income components as explanatory variables. The results indicate that it is important to separate the two effects; while an increase in the inequality in permanent income yields a positive and significant effect on total crimes and three different property crimes, an increase in the inequality in transitory income has no significant effect on any type of crime. Using a traditional, aggregate, measure of income yields mainly insignificant effects on crime.

Language
Englisch

Bibliographic citation
Series: Working Paper ; No. 2005:20

Classification
Wirtschaft
Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models: Panel Data Models; Spatio-temporal Models
Personal Income, Wealth, and Their Distributions
Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs: Other
Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior: General
Subject
Crime
Earnings dynamics
Inequality
Einkommensumverteilung
Kriminalität
Kriminalitätsökonomik
Theorie

Event
Geistige Schöpfung
(who)
Dahlberg, Matz
Gustavsson, Magnus
Event
Veröffentlichung
(who)
Uppsala University, Department of Economics
(where)
Uppsala
(when)
2005

Handle
URN
urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-211064
Last update
10.03.2025, 11:44 AM CET

Data provider

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Object type

  • Arbeitspapier

Associated

  • Dahlberg, Matz
  • Gustavsson, Magnus
  • Uppsala University, Department of Economics

Time of origin

  • 2005

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