A study on the relationship between income polarization and crime in Brazil

Author(s)

Maria Isabel Accoroni Theodoro

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: Ribeirão Preto.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Economia, Administração e Contabilidade de Ribeirão Preto (PCARP/BC)
• Defense date: 2011-03-23

Examining board members

Luiz Guilherme Dacar da Silva Scorzafave; Elaine Toldo Pazello; Alexandre Sartoris Neto

• Advisor: Luiz Guilherme Dacar da Silva Scorzafave

Abstract

This paper estimates the effect of polarization of income on crime rates to assessing whether the polarization is more relevant than traditional measures of inequality in the explanation of crime. To calculate the polarization was used to measure proposed by Duclos et al. (2004). Models were estimated with cross-sectional and panel datas using models of spatial autocorrelation and System GMM. The main conclusion of this study is that the measure of income polarization has positive and significant effect on the rate of property crimes, as originally hoped. This result is robust to weight changes the feeling of identification among individuals, α, and different econometric methods and income variables used for calculate measures of inequality. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 09/03909-4 - A study of the relation between income polarization and crime for Brazil
• Grantee: Maria Isabel Accoroni Theodoro Habenschus
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master