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Urban Crime and Labor Mobility
Author(s) -
BANDYOPADHYAY SUBHAYU,
PINTO SANTIAGO M.,
WHEELER CHRISTOPHER H.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of public economic theory
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.809
H-Index - 32
eISSN - 1467-9779
pISSN - 1097-3923
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9779.2011.01507.x
Subject(s) - enforcement , metropolitan area , spillover effect , welfare , law enforcement , labour economics , economics , labor mobility , business , geography , law , microeconomics , political science , market economy , archaeology
Two municipalities within a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) determine the level of local law enforcement. Enforcement reduces and diverts crime. The former confers a spillover benefit; the latter a spillover cost. When labor is mobile, welfare necessarily declines: if enforcement is too high (low) under labor immobility, it is raised (reduced) further under mobility. If municipalities have different enforcement costs, mobility reduces welfare for the high‐cost municipality and for the MSA, but the effect is ambiguous on the low‐cost municipality. Finally, when residents choose between productive and criminal activities, enforcement is more likely to be overprovided.