How Potential Offenders and Victims Interact

70 Pages Posted: 1 Jun 2020

Date Written: April 2020

Abstract

This paper models crime rates as a function of the interaction between potential offenders and victims. In particular, the paper studies robbery of bus drivers, a crime that remains common in cities throughout the world. Exploiting the timing of a significant reform introduced in Chile in the public transportation sector and detailed administrative data on crime incidents, the paper shows how victims’ propensity to resist an attack can alter the level and nature of criminal activity. The paper also finds a large decline in crime after the implementation of a technological innovation that eliminated cash transactions on buses. The results suggest a strong relationship between victim’s incentives, cash presence, and crime.

Keywords: : Economics of crime, Victims, Cash, Public transportation

JEL Classification: K42, R41

Suggested Citation

Domínguez, Patricio, How Potential Offenders and Victims Interact (April 2020). IDB Working Paper No. IDB-WP-1108, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3614267 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3614267

Patricio Domínguez (Contact Author)

University of California, Berkeley ( email )

Berkeley, CA
United States

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