IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0324937.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Economic inequality and crime across cities in India: Evidence using nighttime lights data

Author

Listed:
  • Christopher Kuruvilla Mathen
  • Siddhartha Chattopadhyay
  • Sohini Sahu
  • Abhijit Mukherjee

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between economic inequality and crime rates across 49 Indian cities from 2016 to 2021. Given the limited availability of traditional economic indicators at the city level in India, we introduce a novel methodological approach using nighttime lights collected by the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) satellites and its inequality as an alternative indicator for economic activity and economic inequality. Employing a dynamic panel data model, we demonstrate that inequality based on nighttime lights has a statistically significant positive impact on crime rates. Our findings reveal that a 1% increase in light-based inequality corresponds to a 0.5% increase in total crime rate. This relationship remains robust across multiple crime categories, including violent crime, minor property crime, and property crime. Furthermore, we observe that conviction rates have a significant negative impact on total crime rate, suggesting the deterrent effect of effective law enforcement. These results contribute to the growing literature on urban crime dynamics and offer insights on the use of remotely sensed nighttime lights for studying economic disparities in regions where conventional economic data may be limited.

Suggested Citation

  • Christopher Kuruvilla Mathen & Siddhartha Chattopadhyay & Sohini Sahu & Abhijit Mukherjee, 2025. "Economic inequality and crime across cities in India: Evidence using nighttime lights data," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 20(8), pages 1-13, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0324937
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0324937
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0324937
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0324937&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0324937?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Adolfo Sachsida & Mario Mendonça & Paulo Loureiro & Maria Gutierrez, 2010. "Inequality and criminality revisited: further evidence from Brazil," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 39(1), pages 93-109, August.
    2. Fajnzylber, Pablo & Lederman, Daniel & Loayza, Norman, 2002. "What causes violent crime?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(7), pages 1323-1357, July.
    3. Abhishek Singhal & Sohini Sahu & Siddhartha Chattopadhyay & Abhijit Mukherjee & Soumendra N Bhanja, 2020. "Using night time lights to find regional inequality in India and its relationship with economic development," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(11), pages 1-18, November.
    4. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    5. Nattapong Puttanapong & Nutchapon Prasertsoong & Wichaya Peechapat, 2023. "Predicting Provincial Gross Domestic Product Using Satellite Data and Machine Learning Methods: A Case Study of Thailand," Asian Development Review (ADR), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 40(02), pages 39-85, September.
    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. Paolo Buonanno & Leone Leonida, 2006. "Education and crime: evidence from Italian regions," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(11), pages 709-713.
    2. World Bank, 2010. "Crime and Violence in Central America : A Development Challenge - Executive Summary," World Bank Publications - Reports 2979, The World Bank Group.
    3. Levine, Ross & Loayza, Norman & Beck, Thorsten, 1999. "ɇ‘Èž ĸ­Ä»‹Ä¸Žç» Ƶžå¢Žé•¿Ï¼Šå› Æžœå…³Ç³»Ä¸Žåžÿå›," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2059, The World Bank.
    4. Abdur R Chowdhury, 2004. "Private Savings in Transition Economies: Are there Terms of Trade Shocks?," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 46(4), pages 487-514, December.
    5. Norman Loayza & Pablo Fajnzylber & César Calderón, 2005. "Economic Growth in Latin America and the Caribbean : Stylized Facts, Explanations, and Forecasts," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 7315.
    6. Mishra, Prachi & Newhouse, David, 2009. "Does health aid matter?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 855-872, July.
    7. Mindaugas Butkus & Kristina Matuzevièi?t? & Alma Maèiulyt?-Šniukien?, 2019. "Do Economic Conditions Still Cause Crime? Some Comforting Empirical Evidences from EU Panel," Zbornik radova Ekonomskog fakulteta u Rijeci/Proceedings of Rijeka Faculty of Economics, University of Rijeka, Faculty of Economics and Business, vol. 37(2), pages 603-628.
    8. Otsu, Yuki & Yuen, C.Y. Kelvin, 2022. "Health, crime, and the labor market: Theory and policy analysis," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    9. 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.
    10. Kyriakos C. Neanidis & Maria Paola Rana & Keith Blackburn, 2017. "An empirical analysis of organized crime, corruption and economic growth," Annals of Finance, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 273-298, August.
    11. David Hauner & Ali Kutan & Christy Spivey, 2012. "Inequality and crime: evidence from Russia's regions," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(17), pages 1667-1671.
    12. Armey, Laura E. & Lipow, Jonathan & Webb, Natalie J., 2014. "The impact of electronic financial payments on crime," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 46-57.
    13. Claudio Detotto & Sauveur Giannoni & Claire Goavec, 2017. "Does good governance attract tourists?," Working Papers 002, Laboratoire Lieux, Identités, eSpaces et Activités (LISA).
    14. Powdthavee, Nattavudh, 2009. "I can't smile without you: Spousal correlation in life satisfaction," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 675-689, August.
    15. Ogundari, Kolawole, 2021. "Crime and economic conditions in the United States Revisited," MPRA Paper 116944, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 11 Mar 2022.
    16. Dutta, Nabamita & Jana, Dipparna & Kar, Saibal, 2020. "Does state-level per capita income affect juvenile delinquency? An empirical analysis for Indian states," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 109-120.
    17. Kausik Chaudhuri & Payel Chowdhury & Kevin Reilly, 2013. "A New Perspective on Violent Crime Burden Index: Evidence from Indian Districts," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 110(2), pages 771-789, January.
    18. Daniel Montolio & Simón Planells, 2013. "Does tourism boost criminal activity? Evidence from a top touristic country," Working Papers 2013/4, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    19. Muhammad Khalid Anser & Zahid Yousaf & Abdelmohsen A. Nassani & Saad M. Alotaibi & Ahmad Kabbani & Khalid Zaman, 2020. "Dynamic linkages between poverty, inequality, crime, and social expenditures in a panel of 16 countries: two-step GMM estimates," Journal of Economic Structures, Springer;Pan-Pacific Association of Input-Output Studies (PAPAIOS), vol. 9(1), pages 1-25, December.
    20. 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.

    More about this item

    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:plo:pone00:0324937. 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: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    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.