Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Domínguez, Patricio
• Asahi, Kenzo

Titel

Crime-time: how ambient light affects crime

Ist Teil von

• Journal of economic geography, 2023-03, Vol.23 (2), p.299-317

Ort / Verlag

Oxford University Press

Erscheinungsjahr

2023

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

Oxford Journals 2020 Social Sciences

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Abstract This paper studies the effect of sunlight on crime, taking advantage of a daylight saving time (DST) policy. We find a 30% decrease in robberies when the DST transition increases the amount of sunlight by 1 h during the 7–9 p.m. period. We document a symmetric reaction when DST decreases sunlight exposure. We complement these findings by showing that the response induced by DST is not associated with a plausible demand-side response such as the population’s commuting patterns and we find no substantial short-term displacement of crime. Our results show that ambient light is a key driver of criminal activity in urban spaces.