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Do Dollar Stores Attract Violent Crime?
Topics: Urban Geography
, Quantitative Methods
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Keywords: Dollar stores, Violent crime, Chicago Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract Day: Friday Session Start / End Time: 2/25/2022 03:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/25/2022 05:00 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) Room: Virtual 72
Authors:
Eun Jin Shin, Sungkyunkwan University
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Abstract
With the rise of economic inequality over the past decade, dollar stores have flourished in the United States. Although mass media has increasingly depicted dollar stores as magnets for local crime, limited academic research has examined their impact on crime in surrounding areas. This study uses 2009–2019 geocoded crime data and a difference-in-differences design to examine the impact of dollar stores on localized crime patterns in Chicago. The results show that both existing and newly opened dollar stores (i.e., those opened during the study period) were highly concentrated in poor, Black neighborhoods. Exploiting spatial and temporal variations in the opening of dollar stores, this study finds that the opening of dollar stores results in higher levels of violent crime in nearby areas. The impact of dollar stores on violent crime is more pronounced during business hours, although the magnitude of such impact varies by detailed crime type. There is limited evidence that the impact of dollar stores on crime differs by neighborhood income level.
