Crime Victimization and Subjective Well-Being: Evidence from Happiness Data
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
6-1-2013
Department
School of Business
Abstract
Crime hurts victims financially and often physically. This paper examines how individual well-being is affected by the direct experience of burglary and robbery, using micro-level happiness data from Japan. I find that the direct experience of burglary significantly reduces victims' reported happiness. In monetary terms, being burglarized is as bad as losing approximately $35,000-$52,500. This paper also tests for heterogeneous effects of victimization on happiness. Happiness of the wealthy, who can afford to lose some money as well as buy some safety, is not affected by the direct experience of burglary or robbery. Crime victimization hurts homeowners more than renters most likely because their barriers to mobility make it difficult for homeowners to move in response to crime victimization. Finally, this paper suggests that victims' psychological non-pecuniary costs are substantially larger than the pecuniary losses. © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
DOI
10.1007/s10902-012-9355-1
First Page
783
Last Page
794
Volume
14
Issue
3
ISSN
13894978
Recommended Citation
Kuroki, M. (2013). Crime Victimization and Subjective Well-Being: Evidence from Happiness Data. Journal of Happiness Studies, 14(3): 783-794. doi:10.1007/s10902-012-9355-1
Comments
At the time of publication, Masanori Kuroki was affiliated with Occidental College.