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Crime and Mental Wellbeing

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Author Info

  • Francesca Cornaglia
  • Andrew Leigh

Abstract

Most estimates of the cost of crime focus on victims. Yet it is plausible that an even larger cost of crime occurs via its indirect impact on the mental wellbeing of non-victims. To test how crime affects individuals' mental outcomes, we exploit detailed panel data on mental wellbeing, allowing us to observe the relationship between changes in crime in a local area and changes in the mental wellbeing of resident non-victims in that area (controlling for changes in local economic conditions). Our results suggest that increases in crime rates have a negative impact on the mental wellbeing of residents, with the biggest impacts arising from violent crime. We also find that local press coverage of criminal activity enhances the effect of crime on mental well-being.

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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by Centre for Economic Performance, LSE in its series CEP Discussion Papers with number dp1049.

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Date of creation: Apr 2011
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Handle: RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1049

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Web page: http://cep.lse.ac.uk/_new/publications/series.asp?prog=CEP

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Keywords: neighbourhood effects; health; mental health; fear of crime;

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References

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  1. Frijters, Paul & Johnston, David W. & Shields, Michael A., 2008. "Happiness Dynamics with Quarterly Life Event Data," IZA Discussion Papers 3604, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  2. Steve Gibbons, 2004. "The Costs of Urban Property Crime," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 114(499), pages F441-F463, November.
  3. Raphael, Steven & Winter-Ember, Rudolf, 2001. "Identifying the Effect of Unemployment on Crime," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 44(1), pages 259-83, April.
  4. Lawrence F. Katz & Jeffrey R. Kling & Jeffrey B. Liebman, 2000. "Moving to Opportunity in Boston: Early Results of a Randomized Mobility Experiment," NBER Working Papers 7973, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  5. Michael Shields & Stephen Wheatley Price & Mark Wooden, 2009. "Life satisfaction and the economic and social characteristics of neighbourhoods," Journal of Population Economics, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 421-443, April.
  6. Carol Propper & Simon Burgess & Anne Bolster & George Leckie & Kelvyn Jones & Ron Johnston, 2006. "The impact of neighbourhood on the income and mental health of British social renters," The Centre for Market and Public Organisation 06/161, Department of Economics, University of Bristol, UK.
  7. Leigh L. Linden & Jonah E. Rockoff, 2006. "There Goes the Neighborhood? Estimates of the Impact of Crime Risk on Property Values From Megan's Laws," NBER Working Papers 12253, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  8. Brian Jacob & Lars Lefgren & Enrico Moretti, 2004. "The Dynamics of Criminal Behavior: Evidence from Weather Shocks," NBER Working Papers 10739, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  9. Whitley, Rob & Prince, Martin, 2005. "Fear of crime, mobility and mental health in inner-city London, UK," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(8), pages 1678-1688, October.
  10. Thaler, Richard, 1978. "A note on the value of crime control: Evidence from the property market," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 137-145, January.
  11. Frijters, Paul & Johnston, David W. & Shields, Michael A., 2010. "Mental Health and Labour Market Participation: Evidence from IV Panel Data Models," IZA Discussion Papers 4883, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
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Cited by:
  1. Wenjie Wu, 2013. "Does Better Rail Access Improve Homeowners’ Happiness?: Evidence Based on Micro Surveys in Beijing," SERC Discussion Papers 0134, Spatial Economics Research Centre, LSE.
  2. Mathias Sinning & Matthias Vorell, 2011. "People‘s Attitudes and the Eff ects of Immigration to Australia," Ruhr Economic Papers 0271, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.
  3. Mathias Sinning & Matthias Vorell, 2011. "There Goes the Neighborhood? People’s Attitudes and the Effects of Immigration to Australia," ANU Working Papers in Economics and Econometrics 2011-548, Australian National University, College of Business and Economics, School of Economics.
  4. Maren M. Michaelsen, 2012. "Mental Health and Labour Supply – Evidence from Mexico‘s Ongoing Violent Conflicts," Ruhr Economic Papers 0378, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.

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