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Income inequality and homicide rates in Canada and the United States(1)
Certaines recherches, demontrant que les inegalites des revenus (etablis au moyen de l'indice Gini) predisent (ils sont peut-etre meme determinants) les taux d'homicides au niveau national ainsi qu'aux niveaux des etats et des villes, demeurent peu concluantes parce qu'il existe une relation negative entre les inegalites economiques et le revenu moyen. Dans ce texte, Les auteurs font etat de comparaisons entre Les provinces canadiennes pour tester le Gini et le revenu moyen. Its ont trouve un rapport positif entre l'indice Gini et le taux d'homicides. Les changements temporels dans l'indice Gini predisent aussi les changements dans le temps des taux d'homicides au niveau des provinces. Quand Les provinces canadiennes et Les etats americains sont combines, Les inc galit& des revenus au niveau local tendent et expliquer les taux d'homicides nationaux si diff46rents de ces deux pays.
Previous research showing that income inequality (assessed by the Gini index) is a predictor, and hence a possible determinant, of homicide rates, whether at the cross-national, state, or city level, has been inconclusive because of a negative relationship between economic inequity and average income. Comparison across the Canadian provinces provides a test case in which average income and the Gini are, instead, positively correlated, and we find that the positive relationship between the Gini and the homicide rate is undiminished. Temporal change in the Gini is also shown to be a significant predictor of temporal change in provincial homicide rates. When Canadian provinces and U.S. states are considered together, local levels of income inequality appear to be sufficient to account for the two countries' radically different national homicide rates.
Introduction
Several theoretical approaches in the social and biological sciences suggest that inequitable access to goods provokes antisocial behaviour and violence (Braithwaite 1979; Maynard Smith 1982; Runciman 1966; Wilkinson 1996; Wilkinson, Kawachi and Kennedy 1998; Wilson and Daly 1985). Homicide rates are highly variable between times and places (Archer and Gartner 1984), and Daly and Wilson (1988; 1997) have argued that much of this variability reflects the variable severity of interpersonal competition for limited material and social resources. Not only do many homicides occur in contexts, such as robbery and sexual rivalry, that are clearly competitive, but even...