Region-Specific Structural Covariates of Homicide Rates in Latin America: State Legitimacy and Remittances

Abstract

The goal of this study was to examine region-specific structural covariates of homicide rates in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). LAC nations possess 8% of the global population but 33% of homicides, yet the region receives limited attention in studies of social structure and violence. Prior literature suggests two separate social forces particularly relevant to the region, state legitimacy and monetary remittances. Theory from multiple fields provides distinct pathways through which each may influence LAC violence rates, suggesting a negative legitimacy-homicide association but competing hypotheses about the remittances-homicide association. Our unit of analysis was the nation-year, and our sample included 16 LAC nations between 2000 and 2018. We obtained homicide data from the World Health Organization and measures of state legitimacy and remittances from the Latinobarómetro, World Bank, and Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. Controlling for several traditional structural covariates of cross-national homicide rates, results from panel fixed effects models indicated that state legitimacy and remittances are, respectively, negatively and positively associated with LAC within-nation homicide rates over time.