Do inequalities predict fear of crime? Empirical evidence from Mexico

Deeply rooted in the social disorganization theory, this article aims at studying the causal impact of local inequality, a main community structural factor, on individuals' fear of crime. Combining multiple datasets and focusing on the Mexican case, this study has several goals. First, we construct an innovative index of fear of crime composed of three dimensions: emotion, cognition and behavior. Second, we build measures of income and education inequality representative at the municipal level. Lastly, we assess the causal effect of inequalities on fear of crime, controlling both for the hierarchical structure of the data and endogeneity bias relying on two-stage least squares (2SLS) multilevel models. Our results suggest a strong positive linear relationship between municipal income inequality and fear of crime. However, the observed effect is stronger for the emotive and behavioral dimensions. Concerning education inequality, we also find a positive impact on feeling of unsafety (emotive dimension), but of smaller magnitude, and on risk perception (cognitive dimension). While our results are robust to different robustness checks for income inequality, they are less stable for education inequality. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This article examines the causal impact of local inequality on individuals' fear of crime under the framework of social disorganization theory. The findings suggest a strong positive linear relationship between municipal income inequality and fear of crime, particularly in the emotive and behavioral dimensions. Education inequality also has a positive impact on feelings of unsafety and risk perception, although to a lesser extent.