Abstract
We investigate the relationship between hurricane strikes and crime for Jamaica. To this end, we construct hurricane damages and daily recorded criminal activity. Hurricanes are found to significantly increase crime by 35%, where the impact is stronger for more damaging storms, but this only lasts for the duration of the storm. Decomposing crime into its various subtypes, one finds that while aggravated assault, break-ins, and shooting increase during a hurricane, murders, rapes, and robberies actually decline. The greatest increase is with shootings, whereas the greatest decline is with rape. Crucially, the impact of crime depends on the existence of a storm warning. Our results also show that high frequency data more accurately estimate the impact of hurricanes on crime.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 318-338 |
| Number of pages | 21 |
| Journal | Southern Economic Journal |
| Volume | 86 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Early online date | 6 Jun 2019 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jul 2019 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2019 by the Southern Economic Association
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Economics and Econometrics
Access to Document
- Nekeisha_Spencer_&_Eric_Strobl_Crime_watch_Southern_Economic_Journal_2019
This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Spencer, N. and Strobl, E. (2019), Crime Watch: Hurricanes and Illegal Activities. Southern Economic Journal, 86: 318-338. doi:10.1002/soej.12376, which has been published in final form at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/soej.12376. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions.