Crime, Income Inequality, and Density at the Neighborhood Level

Authors

Andrew Hovel, College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's University

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Date

2014

Disciplines

Economics

Advisor

Shrawantee Saha

Abstract

An economic model of crime gives policymakers a basis to understand how income inequality and population density relate to crime at the neighborhood level. This study reveals a negative and significant relationship between population density in Census tracts and both property and violent crime rates. It finds ambiguous results that vary by city for income inequality. This cross-sectional analysis of Census tracts in Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, and Dallas uses crime and demographic data from the National Neighborhood Crime Study. This study also yields interesting results about the importance of residential stability for crime prevention and comments on possible urban design tools for crime reduction.

Comments

Readers: W. Parker Wheatley, Margaret Lewis, Matthew Lindstrom

Recommended Citation

Hovel, Andrew, "Crime, Income Inequality, and Density at the Neighborhood Level" (2014). Honors Theses, 1963-2015. 43.
https://digitalcommons.csbsju.edu/honors_theses/43