Property crime and private protection allocation within cities: Theory and evidence

Bruno Decreuse (1) , Steeve Mongrain (2) , Tanguy Ypersele (1)

1 AMSE - Aix-Marseille Sciences Economiques
2 Simon Fraser University - Department of Computer Science

Canada exhibits no correlation between income and victimization, rich neighborhoods are less exposed to property crime, rich households are more victimized than their neighbors, and rich households and neighborhoods invest more in protection. We provide a theory consistent with these facts. Criminals within city choose a neighborhood and pay a search cost to compare potential victims, whereas households invest in self‐protection. As criminals' return to search increases with neighborhood income, households in rich neighborhoods are likelier to enter a race to greater protection driving crim-inals toward poorer areas. A calibration reproduces the Canadian victimiza-tion and protection pattern by household/neighborhood income.

Mots clés: alarms; economics of crime; private protection; property crime; search frictions

Domaines: Economies et finances

Bruno Decreuse, Steeve Mongrain, Tanguy Ypersele. Property crime and private protection allocation within cities: Theory and evidence. Economic Inquiry, 2022, 60 (3), pp.1142-1163. ⟨10.1111/ecin.13070⟩. ⟨hal-03620382⟩