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Unhappiness and Crime: Evidence from South Africa

Author Info

  • Nattavudh Powdthavee

    (The University of Warwick)

Abstract

This paper is the first of its kind to study quality of life responses of crime victims. Using cross-sectional data from the OHS97 survey of South Africa, we show that victims report significantly lower well-being than the non-victims, ceteris paribus. Happiness is lower for nonvictimized respondents currently living in higher crime areas. However, we find a strong evidence for females that criminal victimization hurts, but hurts less if the crime rate on our reference group is high.

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File URL: http://econwpa.repec.org/eps/dev/papers/0310/0310003.pdf
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Paper provided by EconWPA in its series Development and Comp Systems with number 0310003.

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Length: 35 pages
Date of creation: 20 Oct 2003
Date of revision: 17 Mar 2004
Handle: RePEc:wpa:wuwpdc:0310003
Note: Type of Document - pdf; prepared on WinXP; pages: 35
Contact details of provider: Web page: http://econwpa.repec.org

Keywords: Happiness; Quality of Life; Crime; Stigma; South Africa;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
  • D60 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - General
  • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
  • J10 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - General
  • O10 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - General
  • O55 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Africa

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  16. Valerie Møller, 1998. "Quality of Life in South Africa: Post-Apartheid Trends," Social Indicators Research- An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 43(1), pages 27-68, February.
  17. Stutzer, Alois, 2004. "The role of income aspirations in individual happiness," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 89-109, May.
  18. Andrew Clark & Yannis Georgellis & Peter Sanfey, 1999. "Scarring: The Psychological Impact of Past Unemployment," Studies in Economics 9903, School of Economics, University of Kent.
  19. Winkelmann, Liliana & Winkelmann, Rainer, 1998. "Why Are the Unemployed So Unhappy? Evidence from Panel Data," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 65(257), pages 1-15, February.
  20. Andrew Clark, 2001. "Unemployment As A Social Norm: Psychological Evidence from Panel Data," DELTA Working Papers 2001-17, DELTA (Ecole normale supérieure).
  21. Clark, Andrew E. & Oswald, Andrew J. & Warr, Peter B., 1994. "Is job satisfaction u-shaped in age ?," CEPREMAP Working Papers (Couverture Orange) 9407, CEPREMAP.
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