IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/urbstu/v35y1998i8p1335-1343.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Changing a Decision Taken under Uncertainty: The Case of the Criminal's Location Choice

Author

Listed:
  • Joseph Deutsch

    (Department of Economics, Bar-Ilan University, 52900 Ramat-Gan, Israel, jdeutsch@ashur.cc.biu.ac.il.)

  • Gil S. Epstein

    (Department of Economics, Bar-llan University, 52900 Ramat-Gan, Israel, epsteig@ashur.cc.biu.ac.il., Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), London, England, UK)

Abstract

In this paper we analyse the allocation of criminal activity over the metropolitan area over time. At each period of time, the criminal must choose in which area to commit his/her next offence. The criminal's expectations regarding his/her utility as a function of the probability to be apprehended are updated in the process of work. We find general conditions, under which the criminal determines his optimal location strategy. A direct policy implication of our model suggests that spillover effect is the result of changing police activities.

Suggested Citation

  • Joseph Deutsch & Gil S. Epstein, 1998. "Changing a Decision Taken under Uncertainty: The Case of the Criminal's Location Choice," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 35(8), pages 1335-1343, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:35:y:1998:i:8:p:1335-1343
    DOI: 10.1080/0042098984385
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1080/0042098984385
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/0042098984385?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. 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. Rothschild, Michael, 1974. "A two-armed bandit theory of market pricing," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 185-202, October.
    3. Pope, Carl E., 1980. "Patterns in burglary: An empirical examination of offense and offender characteristics," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 8(1), pages 39-51.
    4. Deutsch, Joseph & Hakim, Simon & Weinblatt, J., 1987. "A micro model of the criminal's location choice," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 198-208, September.
    5. Epstein, Gil S., 1996. "The extraction of natural resources from two sites under uncertainty," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 309-313, June.
    6. Joseph Deutsch & Simon Hakim & J. Weinblatt, 1984. "Interjurisdictional Criminal Mobility: A Theoretical Perspective," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 21(4), pages 451-458, November.
    7. Banks, Jeffrey S & Sundaram, Rangarajan K, 1992. "Denumerable-Armed Bandits," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 60(5), pages 1071-1096, September.
    8. Block, M K & Heineke, J M, 1975. "A Labor Theoretic Analysis of the Criminal Choice," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 65(3), pages 314-325, June.
    9. Simon Hakim & Arie Ovadia & Eli Sagi & J. Weinblatt, 1979. "Interjurisdictional Spillover of Crime and Police Expenditure," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 54(2), pages 200-212.
    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. 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.
    2. Hung‐Lin Tao & Ling‐Chih Kuo, 2010. "Deterrence and Incapacitation Effects in a Closed Area: A Case Study of Auto Theft in Taiwan," Asian Economic Journal, East Asian Economic Association, vol. 24(3), pages 203-220, September.
    3. Helsley, Robert W. & Strange, William C., 2005. "Mixed markets and crime," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(7), pages 1251-1275, July.
    4. Joseph Deutsch & Simon Hakim & J. Weinblatt, 1984. "Interjurisdictional Criminal Mobility: A Theoretical Perspective," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 21(4), pages 451-458, November.
    5. Chiu, W. Henry & Madden, Paul, 1998. "Burglary and income inequality," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 123-141, July.
    6. Helsley, Robert W. & Strange, William C., 1999. "Gated Communities and the Economic Geography of Crime," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 80-105, July.
    7. Altindag, Duha T., 2012. "Crime and unemployment: Evidence from Europe," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 145-157.
    8. 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.
    9. Sara LaLumia & James Sallee, 2013. "The value of honesty: empirical estimates from the case of the missing children," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 20(2), pages 192-224, April.
    10. H. Naci Mocan & Hope Corman, 2000. "A Time-Series Analysis of Crime, Deterrence, and Drug Abuse in New York City," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(3), pages 584-604, June.
    11. DeAngelo, Gregory, 2012. "Making space for crime: A spatial analysis of criminal competition," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(1-2), pages 42-51.
    12. 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.
    13. Dongxu Wu & Zhongmin Wu, 2012. "Crime, inequality and unemployment in England and Wales," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(29), pages 3765-3775, October.
    14. Ignacio Munyo, 2015. "The Juvenile Crime Dilemma," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 18(2), pages 201-211, April.
    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. da Matta, Rafael Almeida & Andrade, Mônica Viegas, 2011. "A model of local crime displacement," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 30-36, March.
    17. H. Naci Mocan & Stephen C. Billups & Jody Overland, 2005. "A Dynamic Model of Differential Human Capital and Criminal Activity," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 72(288), pages 655-681, November.
    18. Povilas Lastauskas & Eirini Tatsi, 2017. "Spatial Nexus in Crime and Unemployement in Times of Crisis," Bank of Lithuania Working Paper Series 39, Bank of Lithuania.
    19. Camargo, Braz, 2014. "Learning in society," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 381-396.
    20. Quinteros, María José & Villena, Marcelo J. & Villena, Mauricio G., 2019. "Whistleblowing Behavior in Organizations," MPRA Paper 99215, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 24 Nov 2019.

    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:sae:urbstu:v:35:y:1998:i:8:p:1335-1343. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/urbanstudiesjournal .

    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.