New publication in The Journal of Economic Inequality: “Local inequality and crime: New evidence from South Africa” by Nicolas Büttner.

South Africa has one of the highest levels of income inequality worldwide as well as very high levels of crime.  Against this background, our former PhD candidate Nicolas Büttner analyzed the link between inequality and crime at the local level in South Africa. His study considers various inequality dimensions (income, education, health, racial heterogeneity) and both violent and property crimes. For this, he combined crime records from the South African Police Service with socio-economic data from two population censuses and household surveys.  The study finds a strong association between violent crime and income inequality as well as racial heterogeneity. This is in line with Stain Theory, which suggests that relative deprivation fosters criminal behavior through frustration and social alienation. The study further finds that rising income inequality is associated with more property crimes, yet this is mitigated by protective measures in high-inequality areas.

Local inequality and crime: New evidence from South Africa

Nicolas Büttner is alumni of the Master Program in Development Studies and a former PhD candidate of the chair. After his doctorate at the University of Passau in 2022, Nicolas continued his research activities at ETH Zürich, where currently works as a postdoctoral researcher and research manager of the Development Economics Group.