Demand for Public Safety

Abstract

Is public safety of less concern to poor people? What about people in poor areas? How is demand for public safety affected by income inequality? Is there a self-correcting mechanism whereby higher crime increases demand for public safety?

Is public safety of less concern to poor people? What about people in poor areas? How is demand for public safety affected by income inequality? Is there a self-correcting mechanism whereby higher crime increases demand for public safety?

Pradhan and Ravallion study subjective assessments of public safety using a comprehensive socioeconomic survey of living standards in Brazil. They find public safety to be a normal good at the household level. Marginal income effects are higher for the poor, so inequality reduces aggregate demand for public safety. Less public safety generates higher demand for improving it.

Living in a poor area increases demand at given own-income. So does living in an area with higher average education.

This paper - a product of Poverty and Human Resources, Development Research Group - is part of a larger effort in the group to assess demand for public goods. The study was funded by the Bank's Research Support Budget under research project Policies for Poor Areas (RPO 681-39). Martin Ravallion may be contacted at [e-mail].