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Crime and the effectiveness of public order spending in Greece: Policy implications of some persistent findings

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  • Kollias, Christos
  • Mylonidis, Nikolaos
  • Paleologou, Suzanna-Maria

Abstract

Increasing crime rates invariably result in calls for more police protection which requires the allocation of additional scarce resources to policing and public order. In an environment of fiscal pressures, the effectiveness of such public spending in deterring crime emerges as an important issue. This paper evaluates the effectiveness of public order spending on recorded crime in Greece. Results reported herein show that public order outlays do not have any crime reducing impact. The findings may tentatively be interpreted as either reflecting inefficient use of resources and/or that crime is driven by a cohort of other factors and hence it is unaffected by the allocation of resources to policing. Both interpretations have important policy implications both in terms of crime prevention policies as well as in terms of the operational efficiency and effectiveness of the agencies assigned with the task to thwart criminal activity.

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  • Kollias, Christos & Mylonidis, Nikolaos & Paleologou, Suzanna-Maria, 2013. "Crime and the effectiveness of public order spending in Greece: Policy implications of some persistent findings," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 121-133.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jpolmo:v:35:y:2013:i:1:p:121-133
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jpolmod.2012.02.004
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    Cited by:

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    2. Berrittella, Maria & Provenzano, Carmelo, 2016. "An Empirical Analysis of the Public Spending Decomposition on Organized Crime," ET: Economic Theory 232005, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    3. Malik, Zahra & Zaman, Khalid, 2013. "Macroeconomic consequences of terrorism in Pakistan," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 35(6), pages 1103-1123.
    4. Hazra, Devika & Aranzazu, Jose, 2022. "Crime, correction, education and welfare in the U.S. – What role does the government play?," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 44(2), pages 474-491.
    5. Ferrante, Livio & Reito, Francesco & Spagano, Salvatore & Torrisi, Gianpiero, 2021. "Shall we follow the money? Anti-mafia policies and electoral competition," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 43(5), pages 1110-1130.
    6. Maria Berrittella & Carmelo Provenzano, 2016. "An Empirical Analysis of the Public Spending Decomposition on Organized Crime," Working Papers 2016.01, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    7. Kazun, Anton (Казун, Антон) & Yakovlev, Andrei (Яковлев, Андрей), 2015. "Community of Attorneys and the Quality of Law Enforcement in Russia [Адвокатское Сообщество И Качество Правоприменения В России]," Ekonomicheskaya Politika / Economic Policy, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, vol. 5, pages 7-37.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Public order spending; Efficiency; Crime; Greece; Count data;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H59 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Other
    • C22 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions; Dynamic Treatment Effect Models; Diffusion Processes

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