The cost of fear: shadow pricing the intangible costs of crime

Abstract

This study employs a cross sectional crime survey of UK residents to estimate the shadow price of victimization with respect to fear of crime. Particular attention is paid to the relationship between household income and fear of crime and potential mediating variables such as neighbourhood deprivation and neighbourhood crime rates. A robust relationship between fear of crime and income is demonstrated having controlled for deprivation and crime rate. Further analyses suggest that a substantial increase in household income is required to offset the threat of physical violence. However, actual victimization (burglary, physical violence and car crime) do not significantly influence fear of crime.