Urbanization and homicide: evidence from selected countries

Although some regions of the world are experiencing increasing urbanization, its effect on daily interpersonal violence in times of peace remains poorly understood. The objective of this study is to analyze the effect of urbanization on homicide rates using evidence from selected countries. The estimation strategies used in this study are Generalized Linear Models (GLM) initiated by [Nelder, J. A., & Wedderburn, R. W. (1972). Generalized linear models. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series a: Statistics in Society, 135(3), 370–384], the System Generalized Method of Moments (SGMM), and finally Lewbel’s IV-2SLS method (2012). The study period covers 2005–2020 for a sample of 62 selected countries. The results of this study show that urbanization has a negative and statistically significant effect on homicide rates. Furthermore, there is a nonlinear relationship between urbanization and homicide rates. In addition, this study finds that institutional variables such as corruption control, rule of law, government effectiveness, regulatory quality, political stability, and voice and accountability are the channels through which urbanization influences homicide rates. Public authorities should strengthen public services in urbanizing areas, as the correlation between urbanization and declining homicide rates may be due to a stronger presence of the state and its services.