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Crime as a Social Cost of Poverty and Inequality: A Review Focusing on Developing countries

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  • Bourguignon Francois

Abstract

When rural life was still dominant in nowadays industrialized countries, cities were often seen by villagers as the domain of evil, the realm of corruption and violence. The process of accelerated urbanization and economic development was then seen as inherently wicked. The widely publicized criminality and violence observed today in several metropolises of both the developed and developing world would seem to justify a posteriori this bucolic bias. The alarming surge of crime and violence in México, Rio or Sao Paulo during the last 20 years or so might indeed be the result of an excessively rapid growth of these 'gigapolises'. Likewise, the increasing minor cirminality experienced today in many large cities' suburbs in developed countries might be the delayed consequences of an urbanization process which was too quick and insufficiently controlled.

Suggested Citation

  • Bourguignon Francois, 2009. "Crime as a Social Cost of Poverty and Inequality: A Review Focusing on Developing countries," Revista Desarrollo y Sociedad, Universidad de los Andes,Facultad de Economía, CEDE, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:col:000090:005839
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Santiago Arango & John Jairo Prado & Isaac Dyner, 2009. "Evaluación de políticas públicas para la reducción de la criminalidad en Medellín: una aproximación con dinámica de sistemas," Revista ESPE - Ensayos Sobre Política Económica, Banco de la República, vol. 27(60), pages 80-109, December.
    2. Matz Dahlberg & Magnus Gustavsson, 2008. "Inequality and Crime: Separating the Effects of Permanent and Transitory Income," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 70(2), pages 129-153, April.
    3. GholamReza Keshavarz Haddad & Hamed Markazi Moghadam, 2011. "The socioeconomic and demographic determinants of crime in Iran (a regional panel study)," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 32(1), pages 99-114, August.
    4. Eric Neumayer, 2003. "Is Inequality really a Major Cause of Violent Crime? Evidence From a Cross-National Panel of Robbery and Violent Theft Rates," Law and Economics 0312002, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 10 Aug 2004.
    5. Chihiro Muroi & Robert Baumann, 2009. "The Non-Linear Effect of Wealth on Crime," Working Papers 0907, College of the Holy Cross, Department of Economics.
    6. Kirill Borissov & Stéphane Lambrecht, 2009. "Growth and distribution in an AK-model with endogenous impatience," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 39(1), pages 93-112, April.
    7. Bruno S. Frey, 2011. "Punishment – and Beyond," Contemporary Economics, University of Economics and Human Sciences in Warsaw., vol. 5(2), June.
    8. Cornia, Giovanni Andrea & Rosignoli, Stefano & Tiberti, Luca, 2007. "Globalisation and health: impact pathways and recent evidence," Center for Global, International and Regional Studies, Working Paper Series qt2358z815, Center for Global, International and Regional Studies, UC Santa Cruz.
    9. Demombynes, Gabriel & Ozler, Berk, 2005. "Crime and local inequality in South Africa," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(2), pages 265-292, April.
    10. Giovanni Andrea Cornia & Tony Addison & Sampsa Kiiski, 2003. "Income Distribution Changes and their Impact in the Post-World War II Period," WIDER Working Paper Series DP2003-28, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    11. Nilsson, Anna, 2004. "Income inequality and crime: The case of Sweden," Working Paper Series 2004:6, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    12. Renata Villoro & Graciela Teruel, 2004. "The social costs of crime in Mexico city and suburban areas," Estudios Económicos, El Colegio de México, Centro de Estudios Económicos, vol. 19(1), pages 3-44.
    13. Nilsson, Anna, 2004. "Income Inequality and Crime: The Case of Sweden," Research Papers in Economics 2004:3, Stockholm University, Department of Economics.
    14. Catherine Rodríguez & Edgar Villa, 2010. "Kidnaps and Migration: Evidence from Colombia," Documentos CEDE 6933, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Poverty; Crime;

    JEL classification:

    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being

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