market income inequality and its impact on crime in germany (replication data)

Economic theory predicts a positive effect of an increase in income inequality on the prevalence of crime, but the international empirical evidence is mixed. For Germany, research on this topic is virtually non-existent. Therefore, I used fixed effect regressions to estimate the effect of a market income inequality proxy on property damages, thefts from motor vehicles, domestic burglaries and assaults in Germany. The models without spatial lags suggest economically small to moderate own-district elasticities between 0.13 and 0.95. The models with spatial lags generally show insignificant own-district estimates, but significant spatial spillovers.

To replicate the results the following files are provided:

Data
The dataset is provided in .csv (readable across many systems) and .rds format (readable by the open source program R). The names of the files are JBNST_Crime_Inequality_Data.csv and JBNST_Crime_Inequality_Data.rds.
A description of the dataset is provided in the file Dataset_Description.txt. Details such as the data source of certain variables are described in the main text.

R-Code for replication
A code description file with instructions (Code_Description.txt).
A main code file which enables the user to replicate the results (CreateResults.R).
* An auxilliary function (that enables the user to conveniently estimate several models - FunctionToCreateAllSpecificationResults.R).

Data and Resources

Suggested Citation

Süß, Philipp (2019): Market Income Inequality and its Impact on Crime in Germany (replication data). Version: 1. Journal of Economics and Statistics. Dataset. http://dx.doi.org/10.15456/jbnst.2019120.161014

JEL Codes