Willingness-to-pay for Crime Control Programs in Norway: Preferences and Attitudes towards Crime and Crime Reduction.

Abstract

In this pilot study, we use the contingent valuation (CV) method to investigate Norwegians willingness to pay (WTP) for crime control programs. The CV method is well known in the environmental economics literature, and has later also been used to estimate the intangible costs of crime. There is a lack of knowledge about the costs of crime in Norway, and especially about the intangible costs which can be argued to constitute the biggest part of the costs and be the most damaging for the victims. We explore Norwegians attitudes, preferences and knowledge about crime as well as the willingness to pay to reduce the risk of being a victim of crime. This is done by conducting a survey of 394 respondents. To be more precise, the willingness to pay for crime control programs reducing 30 % of rape- and sexual offences, theft and white-collar crime. In this thesis, we find that the average Norwegian is willing to pay 1142 NOK to reduce rape, 647 NOK to reduce theft and 614 NOK to reduce white-collar crime each year. This yields an aggregate WTP of 1.373 million NOK per rape, 13588 NOK per theft and 61222 NOK per white-collar crime. WTP in general increases with income, consistent with economic theory. Furthermore, 66.49 % of the respondents believe that the general penalty level in Norway is too low and that people in general consider crime policy as an important priority in national budgets.