Unobserved heterogeneity bias when estimating the economic model of crime

    Authors

    T. L. Cherry

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Appl. Econ. Lett.

    Keywords

    Economics

    Abstract

    Using unique and unpublished panel data from selected US cities, the paper investigates the consequences of ignoring unobserved heterogeneity in the unit of observation when estimating the economic model of crime. Results confirm that neglecting to control for unobserved heterogeneity overstates the ability of sanctions to deter criminal activity. Further, this upward bias is found to vary significantly across crime types. Interestingly, heterogeneity is insignificant in the tightly reported crimes of murder and auto-theft while being significant in assault, robbery, burglary and larceny where individuals and police have greater discretion in reporting.

    Journal Title

    Applied Economics Letters

    Volume

    6

    Issue/Number

    11

    Publication Date

    1-1-1999

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    753

    Last Page

    757

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000084087700010

    ISSN

    1350-4851

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