Data for: Income inequality and violent crime: Evidence from Mexico's drug war

Abstract of associated article: The goal of this paper is to examine the effect of inequality on crime rates in a unique context, Mexico's drug war. The analysis exploits an original dataset containing inequality and crime statistics on more than 2000 Mexican municipalities over a 20-year period. To uncover the causal effect of inequality on crime, we use an instrumental variable for the Gini coefficient that combines the initial income distribution at the municipality level with national trends. Our estimates indicate that a one-point increment in the Gini coefficient between 2007 and 2010 translates into an increase of more that 36% in the number of drug-related homicides per 100,000 inhabitants. The fact that the effect found during the drug war is substantially greater is likely caused by the rise in rents to be extracted through crime and an expansion in the employment opportunities in the illegal sector through the proliferation of drug trafficking organizations (DTOs), accompanied by a decline in legal job opportunities and a reduction in the probability of being caught given the resource constraints faced by the law enforcement system. Combined, the latter factors made the expected benefits of criminal activity shift in a socially undesirable direction after 2007.Sector Board: Poverty (POV)

关联文章摘要：本文旨在探究墨西哥毒品战争这一独特背景下，收入不平等对犯罪率的影响。本研究采用一套原创数据集，涵盖20年时间跨度内墨西哥超过2000个市镇的不平等与犯罪统计数据。为识别收入不平等对犯罪的因果效应，我们使用了结合市镇层面初始收入分配与全国趋势的工具变量（instrumental variable）以估计基尼系数（Gini coefficient）。估算结果显示，2007年至2010年间，基尼系数每提升1个百分点，每10万人口中涉毒凶杀案数量将增加36%以上。研究发现，毒品战争期间该效应显著更强，这或源于犯罪可攫取的租金上涨，以及毒品贩运组织（Drug Trafficking Organizations, DTOs）扩张带来的非法部门就业机会扩张；与此同时合法就业机会减少，且因执法系统面临资源约束，犯罪被抓获的概率降低。上述多重因素共同导致2007年后犯罪活动的预期收益朝着违背社会福祉的方向偏移。
部门委员会：贫困（POV）