Socioeconomic and demographic factors in different categories of crime in Colombia: Evidence from panel data

Authors

  • Alejandro Mancera Universidad del Nacional

Keywords:

Crime, deterrence, panel of data

Abstract

This investigation is based in the model of crime of Becker-Ehrlich with explanatory variables that impact the crime rate like: the deterrence variable or rate of efficiency of the Police, that it was built as the reason of the number of captures and the number of accusations in same period, proxy variables for legal and illegal income, socioeconomic and demographic variables that are related with the crime according to the literature and with variables that are generated by the internal armed conflict, such as density of inhabitants displaced and density of cultivations of coca. The study was carried out by means of a panel of data with fixed effects for five geographical regions of Colombia in the period of 2001-2006.The results indicate that an increase in the rate of efficiency of the Police diminishes the incentives to be involved in the crimes of subversive actions, extortion, rape and traffic, production or carry of narcotics. The opportunities of legal and illegal income, the poverty and the forced displacement affect the homicide crimes, kidnapping and terrorism. The index of the rate of unemployment was significant and with positive sign in the crimes that are committed in their great majority by the armed groups: kidnapping and terrorism and the index of poverty and forced displacement was significant and with negative sign in the violation crime. Finally, the population density affects the crimes of subversive actions and terrorism.

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Published

2010-07-08

Issue

No. 2: JUL-DEC 2008

Section

Science article

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