Cost of Crime in Latin America

vision.org (Reuters) A series of original studies commissioned by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) quantify the costs of crime and violence in Latin America and the Caribbean using a combination of crime, health and economic statistics to come to fresh conclusions.

In Brazil, one study found people pay an extra $13 billion to gain a sense of security alone, while in Uruguay economic activity suffers a negative impact of more than 3.0 percent of gross domestic product, while long-term generational impacts are found on the health of babies born to mothers who suffer from physical violence.

“People pay for a sense of security,” said David Vetter, lead author of a study examining the impact on residential property values in Brazil’s metropolitan areas of insecurity resulting from crime. Read Article