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Inequality, Crime, and the Long-Run Legacy of Slavery

Author

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  • Buonanno, Paolo
  • Vargas, Juan F.

Abstract

Estimating the effect of inequality on crime is challenging due to reversecausality and omitted variable bias. This paper addresses these concerns by exploiting the fact that, as suggested by recent scholarly research, the legacy of slavery is largely manifested in persistent levels of economic inequality. Municipality-level economic inequality in Colombia is instrumented with a census-based measure of the proportion of slaves before the abolition of slavery in the nineteenth century. It is found that inequality increases both property crime and violent crime. The estimates are robust to including traditional determinants of crime (like population density, proportion of young males, average education level, quality of law enforcement institutions, and overall economic activity), as well as geographic characteristics that may be correlated with both the slave economy and with crime, and current ethnic differences. Policies aiming at reducing structural crime should focus on reducing economic inequality.

Suggested Citation

  • Buonanno, Paolo & Vargas, Juan F., 2017. "Inequality, Crime, and the Long-Run Legacy of Slavery," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 8248, Inter-American Development Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:idb:brikps:8248
    DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18235/0011794
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    Cited by:

    1. Manea, Roxana Elena & Piraino, Patrizio & Viarengo, Martina, 2023. "Crime, inequality and subsidized housing: Evidence from South Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    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. 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.
    5. 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.
    6. 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.
    7. 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.
    8. Pazzona, Matteo, 2024. "Revisiting the Income Inequality-Crime Puzzle," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    9. 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.
    10. Moamen Gouda & Anouk S. Rigterink, 2024. "Historical Slavery Predicts Contemporary Violent Crime," CESifo Working Paper Series 11515, CESifo.

    More about this item

    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • C26 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Instrumental Variables (IV) Estimation
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • K14 - Law and Economics - - Basic Areas of Law - - - Criminal Law

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