Income Inequality and Violent Crime : Evidence from Mexico's Drug War
The relationship between income inequality and crime has attracted the interest of many researchers, but little convincing evidence exists on the causal effect of inequality on crime in developing countries. This paper estimates this effect in a un...
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| Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2014
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2014/06/19705699/income-inequality-violent-crime-evidence-mexicos-drug-war http://hdl.handle.net/10986/18825 |
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okr-10986-188252021-04-23T14:03:49Z Income Inequality and Violent Crime : Evidence from Mexico's Drug War Enamorado, Ted López-Calva, Luis-Felipe Rodriguez Castelan, Carlos Winkler, Hernán ASSET POVERTY BURGLARY CONFLICT CONVICTION COUNTERFACTUAL COUNTRY LEVEL CRIME RATE CRIME RATES CRIME STATISTICS CRIMINAL CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES CRIMINAL ACTIVITY CRIMINAL ACTS CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR CRIMINAL JUSTICE CRIMINOLOGY CROSS-COUNTRY ANALYSIS CROSS-COUNTRY STUDIES CROSS-SECTIONAL DATA DATA SET DEATHS DECLINING INEQUALITY DELINQUENCY DEPENDENT VARIABLE DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS DEVELOPED ECONOMIES DEVELOPING COUNTRIES DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS DRUG DRUG TRAFFICKERS DRUG TRAFFICKING DRUGS ECONOMETRIC MODELS ECONOMIC ACTIVITY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ECONOMIC REVIEW EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE EMPIRICAL LITERATURE EMPIRICAL WORK EXPLANATORY VARIABLE FAMILY STRUCTURES FINANCIAL CRISIS FIREARMS FOOD BASKET FOOD POVERTY FOOD POVERTY LINE GANGS GINI COEFFICIENT HIGHER INEQUALITY HOME HOMICIDE HOMICIDE RATE HOMICIDE RATES HOMICIDES HOUSEHOLD INCOME HOUSEHOLD PER CAPITA INCOME HOUSEHOLD SURVEY HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS HUMAN CAPITAL IMPACT OF INEQUALITY IMPRISONMENT INCOME INCOME DIFFERENCES INCOME DISTRIBUTION INCOME GROWTH INCOME INEQUALITY INCOME POVERTY INCOME REGRESSIONS INCOMES INCREASING INCOME INEQUALITY INCREASING INEQUALITY INEQUALITIES INEQUALITY DATA INEQUALITY LEVELS INEQUALITY MEASURE INEQUALITY MEASURES KIDNAPPING LABOR MARKET LACK OF INFORMATION LAW ENFORCEMENT LINEAR REGRESSION LITERACY MARGINAL COST MEAN INCOME MEASUREMENT ERROR MEDIAN INCOME MURDER MURDERS NATIONAL DEFENSE NEGATIVE CORRELATION NEGATIVE EFFECT NEGATIVE RELATIONSHIP NET BENEFIT OFFENSES ORGANIZED CRIME POLICY DISCUSSIONS POLICY RESEARCH POLITICAL ECONOMY POOR POOR INDIVIDUALS POSITIVE EFFECT POVERTY INCREASE POVERTY MAPS POVERTY MEASURE POVERTY MEASUREMENT POVERTY MEASURES POVERTY RATES POVERTY REDUCTION POVERTY STATUS PROPERTY CRIMES PUBLIC EXPENDITURE PUBLIC EXPENDITURES PUBLIC SPENDING RAPE REAL INCOME REFUGEES RISING INCOME INEQUALITY RISING INEQUALITY RURAL RURAL AREAS RURAL HOUSEHOLDS RURAL POPULATION SIGNIFICANT EFFECT SOCIAL CAPITAL SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT SOCIAL SCIENCE SOCIAL STRUCTURE TAXATION THEFT TORTURE VICTIMS VIOLENCE VIOLENT CRIME VIOLENT CRIMES WAR WELFARE INDICATORS WILL The relationship between income inequality and crime has attracted the interest of many researchers, but little convincing evidence exists on the causal effect of inequality on crime in developing countries. This paper estimates this effect in a unique context: Mexico's Drug War. The analysis takes advantage of a unique data set containing inequality and crime statistics for more than 2,000 Mexican municipalities covering a period of 20 years. Using an instrumental variable for inequality that tackles problems of reverse causality and omitted variable bias, this paper finds that an increment of one point in the Gini coefficient translates into an increase of more than 10 drug-related homicides per 100,000 inhabitants between 2006 and 2010. There are no significant effects before 2005. The fact that the effect was found during Mexico's Drug War and not before is likely because the cost of crime decreased with the proliferation of gangs (facilitating access to knowledge and logistics, lowering the marginal cost of criminal behavior), which, combined with rising inequality, increased the expected net benefit from criminal acts after 2005. 2014-06-30T16:39:51Z 2014-06-30T16:39:51Z 2014-06 http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2014/06/19705699/income-inequality-violent-crime-evidence-mexicos-drug-war http://hdl.handle.net/10986/18825 English en_US Policy Research Working Paper;No. 6935 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Publications & Research Latin America & Caribbean Mexico |
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Digital Repository |
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Foreign Institution |
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Digital Repositories |
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World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
| collection |
World Bank |
| language |
English en_US |
| topic |
ASSET POVERTY BURGLARY CONFLICT CONVICTION COUNTERFACTUAL COUNTRY LEVEL CRIME RATE CRIME RATES CRIME STATISTICS CRIMINAL CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES CRIMINAL ACTIVITY CRIMINAL ACTS CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR CRIMINAL JUSTICE CRIMINOLOGY CROSS-COUNTRY ANALYSIS CROSS-COUNTRY STUDIES CROSS-SECTIONAL DATA DATA SET DEATHS DECLINING INEQUALITY DELINQUENCY DEPENDENT VARIABLE DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS DEVELOPED ECONOMIES DEVELOPING COUNTRIES DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS DRUG DRUG TRAFFICKERS DRUG TRAFFICKING DRUGS ECONOMETRIC MODELS ECONOMIC ACTIVITY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ECONOMIC REVIEW EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE EMPIRICAL LITERATURE EMPIRICAL WORK EXPLANATORY VARIABLE FAMILY STRUCTURES FINANCIAL CRISIS FIREARMS FOOD BASKET FOOD POVERTY FOOD POVERTY LINE GANGS GINI COEFFICIENT HIGHER INEQUALITY HOME HOMICIDE HOMICIDE RATE HOMICIDE RATES HOMICIDES HOUSEHOLD INCOME HOUSEHOLD PER CAPITA INCOME HOUSEHOLD SURVEY HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS HUMAN CAPITAL IMPACT OF INEQUALITY IMPRISONMENT INCOME INCOME DIFFERENCES INCOME DISTRIBUTION INCOME GROWTH INCOME INEQUALITY INCOME POVERTY INCOME REGRESSIONS INCOMES INCREASING INCOME INEQUALITY INCREASING INEQUALITY INEQUALITIES INEQUALITY DATA INEQUALITY LEVELS INEQUALITY MEASURE INEQUALITY MEASURES KIDNAPPING LABOR MARKET LACK OF INFORMATION LAW ENFORCEMENT LINEAR REGRESSION LITERACY MARGINAL COST MEAN INCOME MEASUREMENT ERROR MEDIAN INCOME MURDER MURDERS NATIONAL DEFENSE NEGATIVE CORRELATION NEGATIVE EFFECT NEGATIVE RELATIONSHIP NET BENEFIT OFFENSES ORGANIZED CRIME POLICY DISCUSSIONS POLICY RESEARCH POLITICAL ECONOMY POOR POOR INDIVIDUALS POSITIVE EFFECT POVERTY INCREASE POVERTY MAPS POVERTY MEASURE POVERTY MEASUREMENT POVERTY MEASURES POVERTY RATES POVERTY REDUCTION POVERTY STATUS PROPERTY CRIMES PUBLIC EXPENDITURE PUBLIC EXPENDITURES PUBLIC SPENDING RAPE REAL INCOME REFUGEES RISING INCOME INEQUALITY RISING INEQUALITY RURAL RURAL AREAS RURAL HOUSEHOLDS RURAL POPULATION SIGNIFICANT EFFECT SOCIAL CAPITAL SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT SOCIAL SCIENCE SOCIAL STRUCTURE TAXATION THEFT TORTURE VICTIMS VIOLENCE VIOLENT CRIME VIOLENT CRIMES WAR WELFARE INDICATORS WILL |
| spellingShingle |
ASSET POVERTY BURGLARY CONFLICT CONVICTION COUNTERFACTUAL COUNTRY LEVEL CRIME RATE CRIME RATES CRIME STATISTICS CRIMINAL CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES CRIMINAL ACTIVITY CRIMINAL ACTS CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR CRIMINAL JUSTICE CRIMINOLOGY CROSS-COUNTRY ANALYSIS CROSS-COUNTRY STUDIES CROSS-SECTIONAL DATA DATA SET DEATHS DECLINING INEQUALITY DELINQUENCY DEPENDENT VARIABLE DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS DEVELOPED ECONOMIES DEVELOPING COUNTRIES DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS DRUG DRUG TRAFFICKERS DRUG TRAFFICKING DRUGS ECONOMETRIC MODELS ECONOMIC ACTIVITY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ECONOMIC REVIEW EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE EMPIRICAL LITERATURE EMPIRICAL WORK EXPLANATORY VARIABLE FAMILY STRUCTURES FINANCIAL CRISIS FIREARMS FOOD BASKET FOOD POVERTY FOOD POVERTY LINE GANGS GINI COEFFICIENT HIGHER INEQUALITY HOME HOMICIDE HOMICIDE RATE HOMICIDE RATES HOMICIDES HOUSEHOLD INCOME HOUSEHOLD PER CAPITA INCOME HOUSEHOLD SURVEY HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS HUMAN CAPITAL IMPACT OF INEQUALITY IMPRISONMENT INCOME INCOME DIFFERENCES INCOME DISTRIBUTION INCOME GROWTH INCOME INEQUALITY INCOME POVERTY INCOME REGRESSIONS INCOMES INCREASING INCOME INEQUALITY INCREASING INEQUALITY INEQUALITIES INEQUALITY DATA INEQUALITY LEVELS INEQUALITY MEASURE INEQUALITY MEASURES KIDNAPPING LABOR MARKET LACK OF INFORMATION LAW ENFORCEMENT LINEAR REGRESSION LITERACY MARGINAL COST MEAN INCOME MEASUREMENT ERROR MEDIAN INCOME MURDER MURDERS NATIONAL DEFENSE NEGATIVE CORRELATION NEGATIVE EFFECT NEGATIVE RELATIONSHIP NET BENEFIT OFFENSES ORGANIZED CRIME POLICY DISCUSSIONS POLICY RESEARCH POLITICAL ECONOMY POOR POOR INDIVIDUALS POSITIVE EFFECT POVERTY INCREASE POVERTY MAPS POVERTY MEASURE POVERTY MEASUREMENT POVERTY MEASURES POVERTY RATES POVERTY REDUCTION POVERTY STATUS PROPERTY CRIMES PUBLIC EXPENDITURE PUBLIC EXPENDITURES PUBLIC SPENDING RAPE REAL INCOME REFUGEES RISING INCOME INEQUALITY RISING INEQUALITY RURAL RURAL AREAS RURAL HOUSEHOLDS RURAL POPULATION SIGNIFICANT EFFECT SOCIAL CAPITAL SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT SOCIAL SCIENCE SOCIAL STRUCTURE TAXATION THEFT TORTURE VICTIMS VIOLENCE VIOLENT CRIME VIOLENT CRIMES WAR WELFARE INDICATORS WILL Enamorado, Ted López-Calva, Luis-Felipe Rodriguez Castelan, Carlos Winkler, Hernán Income Inequality and Violent Crime : Evidence from Mexico's Drug War |
| geographic_facet |
Latin America & Caribbean Mexico |
| relation |
Policy Research Working Paper;No. 6935 |
| description |
The relationship between income
inequality and crime has attracted the interest of many
researchers, but little convincing evidence exists on the
causal effect of inequality on crime in developing
countries. This paper estimates this effect in a unique
context: Mexico's Drug War. The analysis takes
advantage of a unique data set containing inequality and
crime statistics for more than 2,000 Mexican municipalities
covering a period of 20 years. Using an instrumental
variable for inequality that tackles problems of reverse
causality and omitted variable bias, this paper finds that
an increment of one point in the Gini coefficient translates
into an increase of more than 10 drug-related homicides per
100,000 inhabitants between 2006 and 2010. There are no
significant effects before 2005. The fact that the effect
was found during Mexico's Drug War and not before is
likely because the cost of crime decreased with the
proliferation of gangs (facilitating access to knowledge and
logistics, lowering the marginal cost of criminal behavior),
which, combined with rising inequality, increased the
expected net benefit from criminal acts after 2005. |
| format |
Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper |
| author |
Enamorado, Ted López-Calva, Luis-Felipe Rodriguez Castelan, Carlos Winkler, Hernán |
| author_facet |
Enamorado, Ted López-Calva, Luis-Felipe Rodriguez Castelan, Carlos Winkler, Hernán |
| author_sort |
Enamorado, Ted |
| title |
Income Inequality and Violent Crime : Evidence from Mexico's Drug War |
| title_short |
Income Inequality and Violent Crime : Evidence from Mexico's Drug War |
| title_full |
Income Inequality and Violent Crime : Evidence from Mexico's Drug War |
| title_fullStr |
Income Inequality and Violent Crime : Evidence from Mexico's Drug War |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Income Inequality and Violent Crime : Evidence from Mexico's Drug War |
| title_sort |
income inequality and violent crime : evidence from mexico's drug war |
| publisher |
World Bank, Washington, DC |
| publishDate |
2014 |
| url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2014/06/19705699/income-inequality-violent-crime-evidence-mexicos-drug-war http://hdl.handle.net/10986/18825 |
| _version_ |
1764442827821940736 |