IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eej/eeconj/v28y2002i2p203-216.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An Economic Analysis of Hate Crime

Author

Listed:
  • Lewis R. Gale

    (Department of Economics and Finance, University of Louisiania, Lafayette)

  • Will Carrington Heath

    (University of Louisiana at Lafayette)

  • Rand W. Ressler

    (University of Louisiana at Lafayette)

Abstract

Utilizing an established economic framework grounded in Becker's (1981) path-breaking analysis of altruism and envy within the family, this paper explores the determinants of hate crimes, also known as bias-motivated crimes. Making use of a unique data set on hate crimes compiled by the FBI, we estimate the determinants of hate crimes across states using both random- and fixed-effects approaches. While there are limitations in the use of bias-motivation crime data in empirical analysis, we find statistical significance between the incidence of hate crime and several economic and socioeconomic variables. Most notably, among non-South states, a higher hate crime rate is associated with higher abuse rates, higher unemployment rates, and greater parity of black and white incomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Lewis R. Gale & Will Carrington Heath & Rand W. Ressler, 2002. "An Economic Analysis of Hate Crime," Eastern Economic Journal, Eastern Economic Association, vol. 28(2), pages 203-216, Spring.
    • Handle: RePEc:eej:eeconj:v:28:y:2002:i:2:p:203-216
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://web.holycross.edu/RePEc/eej/Archive/Volume28/V28N2P203_216.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gary S. Becker, 1974. "Crime and Punishment: An Economic Approach," NBER Chapters, in: Essays in the Economics of Crime and Punishment, pages 1-54, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Sjoquist, David Lawrence, 1973. "Property Crime and Economic Behavior: Some Empirical Results," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 63(3), pages 439-446, June.
    3. Zhang, Junsen, 1997. "The Effect of Welfare Programs on Criminal Behavior: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 35(1), pages 120-137, January.
    4. Ehrlich, Isaac, 1973. "Participation in Illegitimate Activities: A Theoretical and Empirical Investigation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 81(3), pages 521-565, May-June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Endrich, Marek & Michel, Stephan, 2018. "The good tourist, the bad refugee and the ugly German: Xenophobic activities and tourism," ILE Working Paper Series 16, University of Hamburg, Institute of Law and Economics.
    2. Daniel Graeber & Felicitas Schikora, 2021. "Hate is too great a burden to bear: Hate crimes and the mental health of refugees," CEPA Discussion Papers 31, Center for Economic Policy Analysis.
    3. Sean Mulholland, 2013. "White supremacist groups and hate crime," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 157(1), pages 91-113, October.
    4. Richard M. Medina & Emily Nicolosi & Simon Brewer & Andrew M. Linke, 2018. "Geographies of Organized Hate in America: A Regional Analysis," Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 108(4), pages 1006-1021, July.
    5. Mulholland, Sean E., 2011. "Hate Source: White Supremacist Hate Groups and Hate Crime," MPRA Paper 28861, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Sharma, Smriti, 2015. "Caste-based crimes and economic status: Evidence from India," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 204-226.
    7. Chor Foon Tang, 2011. "An exploration of dynamic relationship between tourist arrivals, inflation, unemployment and crime rates in Malaysia," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 38(1), pages 50-69, January.
    8. Jason Chan & Anindya Ghose & Robert Seamans, 2013. "The Internet and Hate Crime: Offline Spillovers from Online Access," Working Papers 13-02, NET Institute.
    9. Li Gan & Roberton C. Williams Iii & Thomas Wiseman, 2011. "A Simple Model Of Optimal Hate Crime Legislation," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 49(3), pages 674-684, July.
    10. Endrich, Marek, 2020. "The good tourist, the bad refugee and the ugly German: Xenophobic activities and tourism," VfS Annual Conference 2020 (Virtual Conference): Gender Economics 224604, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    11. Mason Youngblood, 2020. "Extremist ideology as a complex contagion: the spread of far-right radicalization in the United States between 2005 and 2017," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 7(1), pages 1-10, December.
    12. Matheus A. S. Souza & Paulo R. A. Loureiro & Geovana L. Bertussi & George H. M. Cunha & Tito B. S. Moreira, 2022. "Political Parties and Hate Crimes: Empirical Evidence from the United States," International Journal of Economics and Finance, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 14(11), pages 1-46, November.
    13. Ryan, Matt E. & Leeson, Peter T., 2011. "Hate groups and hate crime," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 256-262.
    14. Richard M. Medina & Emily A. Nicolosi & Simon Brewer & Erin Moore, 2021. "A Geographical Analysis of Socioeconomic and Ideological Drivers of Hate Crime in the United States," International Journal of Applied Geospatial Research (IJAGR), IGI Global, vol. 12(2), pages 39-56, April.
    15. Ralsmark, Hilda, 2017. "Media visibility and social tolerance: Evidence from USA," Working Papers in Economics 703, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.

    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. Wagner Kathryn L., 2021. "Public Health Insurance and Impacts on Crime Incidences and Mental Health," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 21(2), pages 469-510, April.
    2. William S. Reece, 2010. "Casinos, Hotels, And Crime," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 28(2), pages 145-161, April.
    3. Tadashi Yamada, 1985. "The Crime Rate and the Condition of the Labor Market: A Vector Autoregressive Model," NBER Working Papers 1782, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. David L. Sollars & Bruce L. Benson & David W. Rasmussen, 1994. "Drug Enforcement and the Deterrence of Property Crime Among Local Jurisdictions," Public Finance Review, , vol. 22(1), pages 22-45, January.
    5. Hope Corman & H. Naci Mocan, 1996. "A Time-Series Analysis of Crime and Drug Use in New York City," NBER Working Papers 5463, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Maurice J. G. Bun & Richard Kelaher & Vasilis Sarafidis & Don Weatherburn, 2020. "Crime, deterrence and punishment revisited," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 59(5), pages 2303-2333, November.
    7. Grogger, Jeff, 1998. "Market Wages and Youth Crime," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 16(4), pages 756-791, October.
    8. Thomas F. Pogue, 1986. "Offender Expectations and Identification of Crime Supply Functions," Evaluation Review, , vol. 10(4), pages 455-482, August.
    9. Ana María Cerro & Osvaldo Meloni, 2000. "Determinants of the crime rate in Argentina during the '90s," Estudios de Economia, University of Chile, Department of Economics, vol. 27(2 Year 20), pages 297-311, December.
    10. Corman, Hope & Dave, Dhaval M. & Reichman, Nancy E., 2014. "Effects of welfare reform on women's crime," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 1-14.
    11. Alexandre Carvalho & Daniel Cerqueira & Waldir Lobão, 2005. "Socioeconomic Structure, Self-Fuifilment, Homicides and Spatial Dependence in Brazil," Discussion Papers 1105, Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada - IPEA.
    12. Eugene Braslavskiy & Firmin Doko Tchatoka & Virginie Masson, 2019. "The Importance Of Punishment Substitutability In Criminometric Studies," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 71(3), pages 491-507, July.
    13. Adla Mokline, 2018. "Criminality, Human Capital and Economic Performance," Business and Economic Research, Macrothink Institute, vol. 8(4), pages 130-142, December.
    14. Horst Entorf & Hannes Spengler, 2015. "Crime, prosecutors, and the certainty of conviction," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 39(1), pages 167-201, February.
    15. Paolo Buonanno, 2003. "The Socioeconomic Determinants of Crime. A Review of the Literature," Working Papers 63, University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Economics, revised Nov 2003.
    16. Steven N. Durlauf & Daniel S. Nagin, 2010. "The Deterrent Effect of Imprisonment," NBER Chapters, in: Controlling Crime: Strategies and Tradeoffs, pages 43-94, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Andrienko Yury, 2002. "What Determines Crime in Russian Regions?," EERC Working Paper Series 99-252e, EERC Research Network, Russia and CIS.
    18. John F. McDonald & Steven Balkin, 1983. "Citizen Demand for Exposure to Street Crime," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 20(4), pages 419-429, November.
    19. Edlund, Lena & Li, Hongbin & Yi, Junjian & Zhang, Junsen, 2007. "Sex Ratios and Crime: Evidence from China’s One-Child Policy," IZA Discussion Papers 3214, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. W. David Allen, 2002. "Crime, Punishment, and Recidivism," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 3(1), pages 39-60, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Bias; Crime;

    JEL classification:

    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
    • K14 - Law and Economics - - Basic Areas of Law - - - Criminal Law
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:eej:eeconj:v:28:y:2002:i:2:p:203-216. 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: Victor Matheson, College of the Holy Cross (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/eeaa1ea.html .

    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.