Falling Behind And Homicides – What’s The Connection?

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.laborradio.org/node/7009

What is the connection between inequality and rising crime? Jesse Russell looks at a new book that tackles the issue:

In his new book “Falling Behind” economics Professor Robert Frank explores how the rising inequality is harming the middle class. One part of his book focuses on the correlation between inequality and rising crime:

: If you place all the numbers in a graph it’s a nice sweet line that traces up. More inequality, more homicides. And why is it? I think when you fall behind there’s a lot of stress added to your life and people are more likely to fall behind when they are under stress then when they’re not.

[Mike03]

1. It is not a mystery

But what interests me in the type and degree of homicide in contrast to economic deteriorations. There are some aspects of violent homicide that are not explainable simply as a result of need for money, but run much deeper than this.