Does Urbanization Cause Crime? Evidence from Rural-Urban Migration in South Africa
Résumé
We study the impact of urbanization driven by internal migration on crime in South Africa. We create a new dataset that combines yearly data on crime and urban population density at the municipality level from 2011 to 2018. We exploit exogenous variations in rural-urban migration induced by climate shocks at origin for identification. We show that higher urban population density leads to a reduction in pecuniary crime rate but has no effect on non-pecuniary crime rate. We highlight two mechanisms explaining this negative effect: a change in population composition and a social network effect.
Domaines
Economies et financesOrigine | Fichiers produits par l'(les) auteur(s) |
---|