Sobel, Russell S.; Osoba, Brian J. - In: Southern economic journal 75 (2009) 4, pp. 996-1018
gang activity and violent crime than is widely accepted. While areas with more gang activity also have more violence, our … theory suggests gangs form as protection agencies precisely in areas with high violent crime rates. While gangs, like … governments, use violence to enforce rules, the net impact of gangs is to lower violent crime. We test this hypothesis and offer …