Work

Impact of Violent Crime on Risk Aversion: Evidence from the Mexican Drug War

Year: 2018

Type: article

Abstract: Whereas attitudes toward risk play an important role in many decisions over the life course, factors that affect those attitudes are not fully understood. Using longitudinal survey data collected in Mexico before and during the Mexican war on drugs, we investigate how risk attitudes change with variation in insecurity and uncertainty brought on by unprecedented changes in local-area violent crime. Exploiting the fact that the timing, virulence, and spatial distribution of changes in violent crime were unanticipated, we establish there is a rise in risk aversion spread across the entire local population as local-area violent crime increases.

Source: The Review of Economics and Statistics

DOI: 10.1162/rest_a_00788

Authors: Ryan Brown, Verónica Montalva, Duncan Thomas, Andrea Velásquez

Institutions: University of Colorado Denver, Inter-American Development Bank, Duke University

Language: English

Topic: Crime Patterns and Interventions

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Peace, justice, and strong institutions

Open Access status: hybrid

OpenAlex ID: W2591200749

FWCI: 18.78

Cites: 43

Cited by: 123

Related to: 10