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Identifying the determinants of crime occurrence and the deterring impact of police: Evidence across Chilean households

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  • Jose Miguel Benavente
  • Javier Turen

Abstract

We analyze the socio-economic and demographic determinants of crime across Chilean households. In particular, we are interested on the impact that police has on deterring crime. Novel evidence is presented and an instrumental variable correction is performed to avoid the typical reverse causality problem of police on crime. We use multilevel probit and count models to estimate di erent crime equations. Results indicate that socioeconomic and demographic characteristics have heterogeneous impact on crimes. In terms of police deterrence e ects, our results reveal that the number of police ocers has no impact on crimes su ered by families (except for burglary) while the true impact of police is determined by the workload that police must face. According to the results, a 10% increase in the workload rate (per 100,000 residents), would raise the crime rates by around 10%.

Suggested Citation

  • Jose Miguel Benavente & Javier Turen, 2012. "Identifying the determinants of crime occurrence and the deterring impact of police: Evidence across Chilean households," Working Papers wp348, University of Chile, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:udc:wpaper:wp348
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    File URL: http://www.econ.uchile.cl/uploads/publicacion/be4549be12d184c9603db2d8bbca7c552ff366ca.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Mirko Draca & Stephen Machin & Robert Witt, 2011. "Panic on the Streets of London: Police, Crime, and the July 2005 Terror Attacks," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(5), pages 2157-2181, August.
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    4. Rafael Di Tella & Ernesto Schargrodsky, 2004. "Do Police Reduce Crime? Estimates Using the Allocation of Police Forces After a Terrorist Attack," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(1), pages 115-133, March.
    5. Levitt, Steven D, 1997. "Using Electoral Cycles in Police Hiring to Estimate the Effect of Police on Crime," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(3), pages 270-290, June.
    6. Cherry, Todd L. & List, John A., 2002. "Aggregation bias in the economic model of crime," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 75(1), pages 81-86, March.
    7. Cameron, Samuel, 1988. "The Economics of Crime Deterrence: A Survey of Theory and Evidence," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(2), pages 301-323.
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    9. Buonanno, Paolo & Montolio, Daniel, 2008. "Identifying the socio-economic and demographic determinants of crime across Spanish provinces," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 89-97, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Elena S. Rotarou, 2018. "Does Municipal Socioeconomic Development Affect Public Perceptions of Crime? A Multilevel Logistic Regression Analysis," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 138(2), pages 705-724, July.

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