Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/232839 
Year of Publication: 
2021
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 14087
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This paper studies the effects of immigration on crime and crime perceptions in Chile, where the foreign-born population more than doubled in the last decade. By using individual-level victimization data, we document null effects of immigration on crime but positive and significant effects on crime-related concerns, which in turn triggered preventive behavioral responses, such as investing in home-security. Our results are robust across a two-way fixed effects model and an IV strategy based on a shift-share instrument that exploits immigration inflows towards destination countries other than Chile. On mechanisms, we examine data on crime-related news on TV and in newspapers, and find a disproportionate coverage of immigrant-perpetrated homicides as well as a larger effect of immigration on crime perceptions in municipalities with a stronger media presence. These effects might explain the widening gap between actual crime trends and public perceptions of crime.
Subjects: 
crime
immigration
crime perception
media
crime beliefs
JEL: 
O15
F22
K1
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
1.78 MB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.