Socio-Economic Development and Violence: An Empirical Application for Seven Metropolitan Areas in Colombia

This work uses several empirical approaches to examine the effects of poverty and inequality on violence in the seven metropolitan areas in Colombia. To this end, this study describes the main determinants of violence in these cities; these determinants are all fundamental features of social instability. For this description, this paper uses several econometric approximations to compare and determine an adequate estimator for the analysis of Colombian urban violence. This hypothesis was supported by evidence showing that factors related to poverty, inequality, and education directly influenced violence in the cities. Because of their effects over time and their incidence rates across society, these factors also had negative effects on the economic and social development of every city analysed.