Broken Mansion Windows: An Analysis of Community Factors and Elite Deviance in the United States

• In Event: 1550 - Research on Deviance and Social Control

Abstract

Scholars studying the impact of contextual factors on deviance overwhelmingly focus on crimes committed in low-income neighborhoods. In contrast, this paper focuses on deviant behaviors of the ultra-wealthy in the form of tax haven usage. I create a novel dataset by combining leaked geo-coded data from the Panama Papers, Paradise Papers, and others, with block group-level data from the American Community Survey. Using multilevel logistic regression models, I find that communities with higher levels of education and non-traditional family structures – namely, more divorces and fewer children – are associated with a greater likelihood of tax haven usage, controlling for other factors such as SES and racial composition. Lower racial and ethnic homogeneity does not increase likelihood of this deviant behavior. These findings present a significant contribution to existing research, which mainly links cultural elements, network ties, and policing to deviant behavior in poorer neighborhoods.

Author

• Doron Raoul Shiffer-Sebba, University of Pennsylvania