IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlands/v11y2022i12p2305-d1004771.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Crime under the Light? Examining the Effects of Nighttime Lighting on Crime in China

Author

Listed:
  • Chong Peng

    (School of Economics, Nanjing Audit University, Nanjing 211815, China)

  • Weizeng Sun

    (School of Economics, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing 100081, China)

  • Xi Zhang

    (School of Economics, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing 100081, China)

Abstract

With Chinese people’s increasing willingness to participate in night activities, local governments have begun regarding the nighttime economy as an important means to stimulate urban vitality and increase social employment. This study uses changes in urban nighttime light brightness as a measure of environmental factors to examine the social effects of nighttime activities. Based on panel data for 227 prefecture-level cities in China from 2000 to 2013, this study empirically investigates the effect and mechanism of nighttime light brightness on the urban crime rate. Empirical results show that (1) a 1% increase in nighttime light brightness increases criminal arrest rate and prosecution rate by 1.474% and 2.371%, respectively; (2) the effects are larger in developed areas with higher levels of lighting and economic development, or in urban areas (compared with rural areas), and (3) the mechanism test shows that such effects are more pronounced in cities with more nighttime business, confirming the existence of a crime opportunity effect.

Suggested Citation

  • Chong Peng & Weizeng Sun & Xi Zhang, 2022. "Crime under the Light? Examining the Effects of Nighttime Lighting on Crime in China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-20, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:11:y:2022:i:12:p:2305-:d:1004771
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/11/12/2305/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/11/12/2305/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Songman Kang, 2016. "Inequality and crime revisited: effects of local inequality and economic segregation on crime," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 29(2), pages 593-626, April.
    2. Hunt, Priscillia Evelyne & Saunders, Jessica & Kilmer, Beau, 2019. "Estimates of Law Enforcement Costs by Crime Type for Benefit-Cost Analyses," Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 10(1), pages 95-123, April.
    3. Jae Seung Lee & Sungjin Park & Sanghoon Jung, 2016. "Effect of Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) Measures on Active Living and Fear of Crime," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(9), pages 1-16, August.
    4. Lee, Sanghoon, 2010. "Ability sorting and consumer city," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 20-33, July.
    5. repec:ces:ifodic:v:12:y:2015:i:4:p:19151970 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Ian Ayres & Steven D. Levitt, 1998. "Measuring Positive Externalities from Unobservable Victim Precaution: An Empirical Analysis of Lojack," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 113(1), pages 43-77.
    7. Magnus Lofstrom & Steven Raphael, 2015. "Incarceration and Crime: Lessons from California’s Public Safety Realignment Reform," ifo DICE Report, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 12(04), pages 40-46, January.
    8. Mikael Priks, 2015. "The Effects of Surveillance Cameras on Crime: Evidence from the Stockholm Subway," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 125(588), pages 289-305, November.
    9. Andreina Seijas & Mirik Milan Gelders, 2021. "Governing the night-time city: The rise of night mayors as a new form of urban governance after dark," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(2), pages 316-334, February.
    10. Hener, Timo, 2022. "Noise pollution and violent crime☆," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 215(C).
    11. J. Vernon Henderson & Adam Storeygard & David N. Weil, 2012. "Measuring Economic Growth from Outer Space," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(2), pages 994-1028, April.
    12. Sara B. Heller & Anuj K. Shah & Jonathan Guryan & Jens Ludwig & Sendhil Mullainathan & Harold A. Pollack, 2017. "Thinking, Fast and Slow? Some Field Experiments to Reduce Crime and Dropout in Chicago," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 132(1), pages 1-54.
    13. Ejrnæs, Anders & Scherg, Rune H., 2022. "Nightlife activity and crime: The impact of COVID-19 related nightlife restrictions on violent crime," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    14. Kerwin Kofi Charles & Erik Hurst & Matthew J. Notowidigdo, 2018. "Housing Booms and Busts, Labor Market Opportunities, and College Attendance," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(10), pages 2947-2994, October.
    15. Michael C. Dillbeck & Kenneth L. Cavanaugh, 2016. "Societal Violence and Collective Consciousness," SAGE Open, , vol. 6(2), pages 21582440166, April.
    16. Christopher D. Elvidge & Daniel Ziskin & Kimberly E. Baugh & Benjamin T. Tuttle & Tilottama Ghosh & Dee W. Pack & Edward H. Erwin & Mikhail Zhizhin, 2009. "A Fifteen Year Record of Global Natural Gas Flaring Derived from Satellite Data," Energies, MDPI, vol. 2(3), pages 1-28, August.
    17. Enamorado, Ted & López-Calva, Luis F. & Rodríguez-Castelán, Carlos & Winkler, Hernán, 2016. "Income inequality and violent crime: Evidence from Mexico's drug war," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 128-143.
    18. McArthur, Jenny & Robin, Enora & Smeds, Emilia, 2019. "Socio-spatial and temporal dimensions of transport equity for London's night time economy," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 433-443.
    19. Rodrigo R. Soares & Joana Naritomi, 2010. "Understanding High Crime Rates in Latin America: The Role of Social and Policy Factors," NBER Chapters, in: The Economics of Crime: Lessons For and From Latin America, pages 19-55, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Songman Kang, 2016. "Inequality and crime revisited: effects of local inequality and economic segregation on crime," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 29(2), pages 593-626, April.
    21. John Gibson & Geua Boe-Gibson, 2020. "Three Facts About Night Lights Data," Working Papers in Economics 20/03, University of Waikato.
    22. Mauro Costantini & Iris Meco & Antonio Paradiso, 2018. "Do inequality, unemployment and deterrence affect crime over the long run?," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(4), pages 558-571, April.
    23. Brandon C. Welsh & David P. Farrington, 2008. "Effects of Improved Street Lighting on Crime," Campbell Systematic Reviews, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 4(1), pages 1-51.
    24. Martin Nordin & Daniel Almén, 2017. "Long-term unemployment and violent crime," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 52(1), pages 1-29, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Manea, Roxana Elena & Piraino, Patrizio & Viarengo, Martina, 2023. "Crime, inequality and subsidized housing: Evidence from South Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    2. Goh, Lim Thye & Law, Siong Hook, 2023. "The crime rate of five Latin American countries: Does income inequality matter?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 745-763.
    3. Tealde, Emiliano, 2020. "The Unequal Impact of Natural Light on Crime," GLO Discussion Paper Series 663, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    4. Blesse, Sebastian & Diegmann, André, 2019. "Police reorganization and crime: Evidence from police station closures," Working Papers 07/2019, German Council of Economic Experts / Sachverständigenrat zur Begutachtung der gesamtwirtschaftlichen Entwicklung.
    5. Emiliano Tealde, 2022. "The unequal impact of natural light on crime," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 35(3), pages 893-934, July.
    6. Aaron Chalfin & Benjamin Hansen & Jason Lerner & Lucie Parker, 2019. "Reducing Crime Through Environmental Design: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment of Street Lighting in New York City," NBER Working Papers 25798, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Boslett, Andrew & Hill, Elaine & Ma, Lala & Zhang, Lujia, 2021. "Rural light pollution from shale gas development and associated sleep and subjective well-being," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    8. Juergen Bitzer & Erkan Goeren, 2018. "Foreign Aid and Subnational Development: A Grid Cell Analysis," Working Papers V-407-18, University of Oldenburg, Department of Economics, revised Mar 2018.
    9. Adriana Kocornik-Mina & Thomas K. J. McDermott & Guy Michaels & Ferdinand Rauch, 2020. "Flooded Cities," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 12(2), pages 35-66, April.
    10. Michał Myck & Mateusz Najsztub, 2020. "Implications of the Polish 1999 administrative reform for regional socio‐economic development," Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(4), pages 559-579, October.
    11. Felbermayr, Gabriel & Gröschl, Jasmin & Sanders, Mark & Schippers, Vincent & Steinwachs, Thomas, 2018. "Shedding Light on the Spatial Diffusion of Disasters," VfS Annual Conference 2018 (Freiburg, Breisgau): Digital Economy 181556, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    12. John Gibson & Susan Olivia & Geua Boe‐Gibson, 2020. "Night Lights In Economics: Sources And Uses," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(5), pages 955-980, December.
    13. Zhaoxin Dai & Yunfeng Hu & Guanhua Zhao, 2017. "The Suitability of Different Nighttime Light Data for GDP Estimation at Different Spatial Scales and Regional Levels," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-15, February.
    14. José García-Montalvo & Marta Reynal-Querol & Juan Carlos Muñoz Mora, 2021. "Measuring Inequality from Above," Working Papers 1252, Barcelona School of Economics.
    15. Syed Abul, Basher & Jobaida, Behtarin & Salim, Rashid, 2022. "Convergence across Subnational Regions of Bangladesh – What the Night Lights Data Say?," MPRA Paper 111963, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Jaqueson K. Galimberti, 2020. "Forecasting GDP Growth from Outer Space," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 82(4), pages 697-722, August.
    17. Juan Jose Miranda & Oscar A. Ishizawa & Hongrui Zhang, 2020. "Understanding the Impact Dynamics of Windstorms on Short-Term Economic Activity from Night Lights in Central America," Economics of Disasters and Climate Change, Springer, vol. 4(3), pages 657-698, October.
    18. Addison,Tony & Boly,Amadou & Mveyange,Anthony Francis, 2017. "The impact of mining on spatial inequality recent evidence from Africa," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7960, The World Bank.
    19. Russ, Jason, 2020. "Water runoff and economic activity: The impact of water supply shocks on growth," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    20. Galiani, Sebastian & Lopez Cruz, Ivan & Torrens, Gustavo, 2018. "Stirring up a hornets’ nest: Geographic distribution of crime," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 17-35.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:11:y:2022:i:12:p:2305-:d:1004771. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.