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Traffic and Crime

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Abstract

We study the link between crime and emotional cues associated with unexpected traffic. Our empirical analysis combines police incident reports with observations of local traffic data in Los Angeles from 2011 to 2015. This rich dataset allows us to link traffic with criminal activity at a fine spatial and temporal dimension. Our identification relies on deviations from normal traffic to isolate the impact of abnormally bad traffic on crime. We find that traffic above the 95th percentile increases the incidence of domestic violence, a crime shown to be affected by emotional cues, but not other crimes. The results represent a lower bound of the psychological costs of traffic; an externality that is not typically quantified in contrast to pollution, health impacts and lost time that have been established in the literature.

Suggested Citation

  • Louis-Philippe Beland & Daniel A. Brent, 2017. "Traffic and Crime," Departmental Working Papers 2017-02, Department of Economics, Louisiana State University.
  • Handle: RePEc:lsu:lsuwpp:2017-02
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    1. Don’t Fear the Scooter
      by Alon Tal in Project Syndicate on 2019-07-23 11:54:51

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    3. Wellmann, Nicolas & Czarnowske, Daniel, 2021. "What would households pay for a reduction of automobile traffic? Evidence from nine German cities," DICE Discussion Papers 361, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
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    5. Beland, Louis-Philippe & Brodeur, Abel & Haddad, Joanne & Mikola, Derek, 2020. "Covid-19, Family Stress and Domestic Violence: Remote Work, Isolation and Bargaining Power," GLO Discussion Paper Series 571, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    6. Ericsson, Sanna, 2019. "Backlash: Undesirable Effects of Female Economic Empowerment," Working Papers 2019:12, Lund University, Department of Economics, revised 27 Jan 2020.
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    JEL classification:

    • R28 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Government Policy
    • D03 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Behavioral Microeconomics: Underlying Principles
    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure

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