@article{ref1,
title="The Economic Epidemiology of Crime",
journal="Journal of law and economics",
year="1996",
author="Philipson, Tomas J. and Posner, RA",
volume="39",
number="2",
pages="405-433",
abstract="Economic analysis of infectious diseases emphasizes the self-correcting character of epidemics, as rising risk of infection causes potential victims to take self-protective measures. We apply the analysis to crime, showing how rational potential victims of crime will take increased self-protective measures in response to rising crime rates, causing those rates to moderate. Victim responses to crime can offset public expenditures on crime control; this implies that there may be a &quot;natural&quot; rate of crime that is difficult for the public sector to affect. We show that victim responses to crime can impart a cyclical pattern to crime rates and discuss the implications of our analysis for gun control and present empirical evidence concerning the responsiveness of self-protective measures to crime rates and the cyclical pattern of those rates.<p />",
language="",
issn="0022-2186",
doi="",
url="http://dx.doi.org/"
}