Why is there more crime in cities?

• 成果类型: Article; Proceedings Paper
• 署名作者: Glaeser, EL; Sacerdote, B
• 署名单位: Harvard University; National Bureau of Economic Research; Dartmouth College
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-3808
• DOI: 10.1086/250109
• 发表日期: 1999
• 页码: S225-S258
• 关键词: punishment; rates

摘要

Crime rates are much higher in big cities than in either small cities or rural areas. This paper explains this connection by using victimization data, evidence from the NLSY on criminal behavior, and the Uniform Crime Reports. Higher pecuniary benefits for crime in large cities can explain at most one-quarter of the connection between city size and crime rates. Lower probabilities of arrest and a lower probability of recognition are features of urban life, but these factors seem to explain at most one-fifth of the urban crime effect. Between one-third and one-half of the urban effect on crime can be explained by the presence of more female-headed households in cities.