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Unhappiness and Crime: Evidence from South Africa

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Author Info
Nattavudh Powdthavee (The University of Warwick)

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Abstract

This paper is the first of its kind to study quality of life responses of crime victims. Using cross-sectional data from the OHS97 survey of South Africa, we show that victims report significantly lower well-being than the non-victims, ceteris paribus. Happiness is lower for nonvictimized respondents currently living in higher crime areas. However, we find a strong evidence for females that criminal victimization hurts, but hurts less if the crime rate on our reference group is high.

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File URL: http://129.3.20.41/eps/dev/papers/0310/0310003.pdf
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Paper provided by EconWPA in its series Development and Comp Systems with number 0310003.

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Length: 35 pages
Date of creation: 20 Oct 2003
Date of revision: 17 Mar 2004
Handle: RePEc:wpa:wuwpdc:0310003

Note: Type of Document - pdf; prepared on WinXP; pages: 35
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Web page: http://129.3.20.41

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Related research
Keywords: Happiness; Quality of Life; Crime; Stigma; South Africa;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
D60 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - General
I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare and Poverty - - - General Welfare
J10 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - General
O10 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - General
O55 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Africa

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Stutzer, Alois & Lalive, Rafael, 2001. "The Role of Social Work Norms in Job Searching and Subjective Well-Being," IZA Discussion Papers 300, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Nattavudh Powdthavee, 2003. "Are there Regional Variations in the Psychological Cost of Unemployment in South Africa?," Labor and Demography 0310006, EconWPA, revised 28 Oct 2003. [Downloadable!]
  3. Clark, Andrew E. & Oswald, Andrew J., 1996. "Satisfaction and comparison income," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(3), pages 359-381, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  4. Ravallion, Martin & Lokshin, Michael, 2001. "Identifying Welfare Effects from Subjective Questions," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 68(271), pages 335-57, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  5. Clark, Andrew E. & Oswald, Andrew J. & Warr, Peter B., 1994. "Is job satisfaction u-shaped in age ?," CEPREMAP Working Papers (Couverture Orange) 9407, CEPREMAP.
  6. Andrew E. Clark, 2003. "Unemployment as a Social Norm: Psychological Evidence from Panel Data," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 21(2), pages 289-322, April. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  7. van Praag, B. M. S. & Frijters, P. & Ferrer-i-Carbonell, A., 2003. "The anatomy of subjective well-being," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 29-49, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  8. Blanchflower, David G. & Oswald, Andrew J., 2001. "Well-Being Over Time in Britain and the USA," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 616, University of Warwick, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  9. Clark, Andrew E & Georgellis, Yannis & Sanfey, Peter, 2001. "Scarring: The Psychological Impact of Past Unemployment," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 68(270), pages 221-41, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  10. Powdthavee, Nattavudh, 2003. "Is The Structure Of Happiness Equations The Same In Poor And Rich Countries? The Case Of South Africa," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 675, University of Warwick, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  11. Moulton, Brent R, 1990. "An Illustration of a Pitfall in Estimating the Effects of Aggregate Variables on Micro Unit," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 72(2), pages 334-38, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Alois Stutzer, . "The Role of Income Aspirations in Individual Happiness," IEW - Working Papers iewwp124, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  13. Geeta Kingdon & John Knight, 2004. "Unemployment in South Africa: the nature of the beast," Labor and Demography 0409003, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  14. Rafael Di Tella & Robert J. MacCulloch & Andrew J. Oswald, 2001. "Preferences over Inflation and Unemployment: Evidence from Surveys of Happiness," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(1), pages 335-341, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. McBride, Michael, 2001. "Relative-income effects on subjective well-being in the cross-section," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 45(3), pages 251-278, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Di Tella, Rafael & MacCulloch, Robert J. & Oswald, Andrew J., 2001. "The Macroeconomics of Happiness," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 615, University of Warwick, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  17. Bruno S. Frey & Alois Stutzer, 1999. "Measuring Preferences by Subjective Well-Being," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 155(4), pages 755-, December.
  18. Geeta Kingdon & John Knight, 2004. "Well-being poverty versus income poverty and capabilities poverty?," Development and Comp Systems 0409040, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
  19. Clark, Andrew E & Oswald, Andrew J, 1994. "Unhappiness and Unemployment," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 104(424), pages 648-59, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Oswald, Andrew J., 2008. "On the Curvature of the Reporting Function from Objective Reality to Subjective Feelings," IZA Discussion Papers 3344, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Blanchflower, David G. & Oswald, Andrew J., 2007. "Is Well-being U-Shaped over the Life Cycle?," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 826, University of Warwick, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Fredrik Carlsen & Jørn Rattsø & Bjørg Langset & Lasse Stambøl, 2006. "Using survey data to study capitalization of local public services," Working Paper Series 8106, Department of Economics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology. [Downloadable!]
  4. Paul Frijters & Tony Beatton, 2008. "The mystery of the U-shaped relationship between happiness and age," NCER Working Paper Series 26, National Centre for Econometric Research. [Downloadable!]
  5. Oswald, Andrew J. & Powdthavee, Nattavudh, 2007. "Death, Happiness, and the Calculation of Compensatory Damages," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 827, University of Warwick, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. William Savedoff, 2009. "A Moving Target: Universal Access to Healthcare Services in Latin America and the Caribbean," RES Working Papers 4606, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department. [Downloadable!]
  7. Andrew E. Clark & Andrew J. Oswald, 2006. "The curved relationship between subjective well-being and age," PSE Working Papers 2006-29, PSE (Ecole normale supérieure). [Downloadable!]
  8. Ishita Chatterjee & Ranjan Ray, 2009. "Crime, Corruption and Institutions," Monash Economics Working Papers 20/09, Monash University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  9. Oswald, Andrew J & Powdthavee, Nattavudh, 2007. "Obesity, Unhappiness, and The Challenge of Affluence : Theory and Evidence," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 793, University of Warwick, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  10. Andrew E. Clark, 2007. "Born To Be Mild? Cohort Effects Don’t (Fully) Explain Why Well-Being Is U-Shaped in Age," IZA Discussion Papers 3170, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  11. Rafael Di Tella & Robert MacCulloch & Hugo Nopo, 2009. "Happiness and Beliefs in Criminal Environments," RES Working Papers 4605, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department. [Downloadable!]
  12. Bert G.M. Van Landeghem, 2008. "Human Well-Being over the Life Cycle: Longitudinal Evidence from a 20-Year Panel," LICOS Discussion Papers 21308, LICOS - Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance, K.U.Leuven. [Downloadable!]
  13. Andrew E. Clark, 2006. "Born to be mild? Cohort effects don't explain why well-being is U-shaped in age," PSE Working Papers 2006-35, PSE (Ecole normale supérieure). [Downloadable!]
  14. Nattavudh Powdthavee, 2009. "Estimating the Causal Effects of Income on Happiness," Discussion Papers 09/02, Department of Economics, University of York. [Downloadable!]
  15. N Powdthavee, 2008. "Ill-Health as a Household Norm: Evidence from Other People's Health Problems," Discussion Papers 08/21, Department of Economics, University of York. [Downloadable!]
  16. Simon Moore & Jonathan P. Shepherd, 2006. "The cost of fear: shadow pricing the intangible costs of crime," Applied Economics, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 38(3), pages 293-300, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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