The U-shaped crime recovery during COVID-19: evidence from national crime rates in Mexico

Jose Roberto Balmori de la Miyar, Lauren Hoehn-Velasco, Adan Silverio-Murillo

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

29 Scopus citations

Abstract

The existing empirical evidence suggests a reduction in aggregate crime as a consequence of the COVID-19 lockdown. However, what happens when lockdown measures are relaxed? This paper considers how the COVID-19 pandemic affects crime rates throughout Mexico when the stay-at-home orders end. We use national crime data from Mexico’s National Public Security System, which reports municipality-level rates on assault & battery, theft & property crime, fraud, drug crimes & extortion, and homicides. Our results show that the majority of crimes follow a U-shaped trend—when the lockdown ends—crimes rise back to pre-pandemic levels.

Original languageEnglish
Article number14
JournalCrime Science
Volume10
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Dec 2021

Keywords

  • COVID-19
  • Crime
  • Lockdown
  • Mexico
  • Pandemic

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