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Inequality, Crime, and the Long Run Legacy of Slavery

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  • Buonnano, Paolo
  • Vargas, Juan

Abstract

This paper investigates the relationship between economic inequality and crime in Colombian municipalities. Following recent scholarly research that suggests that the legacy of slavery is largely manifest in persistent levels of economic inequality, we instrument economic inequality with a census-based measure of the proportion of slaves in each municipality before the abolition of slavery in the 19 century. We also explore the robustness of our estimates to relaxing the exclusion restriction, as the slavery instrument is only plausibly exogenous. We document a strong association between inequality and both violent and property crime rates at the municipal level. Our estimates are robust to including traditional determinants of crime (like population density, the proportion of young males, the average education level, the quality of law enforcement institutions, and the overall economic activity), as well as current ethnic differences and geographic characteristics that may be correlated both with the slave economy and with crime.

Suggested Citation

  • Buonnano, Paolo & Vargas, Juan, 2016. "Inequality, Crime, and the Long Run Legacy of Slavery," Research Department working papers 987, CAF Development Bank Of Latinamerica.
    • Handle: RePEc:dbl:dblwop:987
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    2. Gaurav Khanna & Carlos Medina & Anant Nyshadham & Jorge Tamayo & Nicolas Torres, 2023. "Formal Employment and Organised Crime: Regression Discontinuity Evidence from Colombia," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 133(654), pages 2427-2448.
    3. Yousef Makhlouf & Neil M. Kellard & Dmitri V. Vinogradov, 2025. "Banks, financial markets, and income inequality," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(1), pages 117-133, January.
    4. Melissa Rubio-Ramos, 2022. "From Plantations to Prisons: The Race Gap in Incarceration After the Abolition of Slavery in the U.S," ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series 195, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.
    5. Pazzona, Matteo, 2024. "Revisiting the Income Inequality-Crime Puzzle," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    6. Pablo Ponce & José Álvarez-García & Mary Cumbicus & María de la Cruz del Río-Rama, 2021. "Spatial Externalities of Income Inequality on Security in Latin America," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-19, January.
    7. Manea, Roxana Elena & Piraino, Patrizio & Viarengo, Martina, 2023. "Crime, inequality and subsidized housing: Evidence from South Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    8. Bebonchu Atems, 2020. "Identifying the Dynamic Effects of Income Inequality on Crime," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 82(4), pages 751-782, August.
    9. Aldenis Vásquez & Rafael Alvarado & Brayan Tillaguango & Cem Işık & Muntasir Murshed, 2023. "Impact of Social and Institutional Indicators on the Homicide Rate in Ecuador: An Analysis Using Advanced Time Series Techniques," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 169(1), pages 1-22, September.
    10. Moamen Gouda & Anouk S. Rigterink, 2024. "Historical Slavery Predicts Contemporary Violent Crime," CESifo Working Paper Series 11515, CESifo.
    11. Felipe Santos‐Marquez & Carlos Mendez, 2021. "Regional convergence, spatial scale, and spatial dependence: Evidence from homicides and personal injuries in Colombia 2010–2018," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(4), pages 1162-1184, August.

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
    • N36 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Latin America; Caribbean

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