Impact of Violence on Chicago's Economy

In 2016 Chicago clocked in with 762 murders, making it the deadliest year in decades. Many businesses in the south and west sides of the cities that were once flourishing with businesses are now rundown and desolate. Although violence isn’t new to Chicago, it definitely has had an impact on the businesses in the areas most affected. So, I wanted to find out to what extent the violence has effected Chicago’s economy.

History and Causes of violence

Chicago has had a long history of violence, dating back to at least the 1860’s were mobs operated significantly in the city. Today rather than mobs its gangs, the 1960’s marked a shift from political organization of gangs to narcotics. The Mob Museum suggests that today at least 70,000 gang members

“Targeting one group isn’t going to be effective because another group is going to come take their spot. I feel like the ideal thing is if you’re going to disrupt a relationship, you need to supplement that by doing something to mend that relationship” (Vargas). Mending the relationship may be difficult in that these people are already so accustomed to the lives they’ve been living maybe it would be best to educated to children. Educating the children will have the most positive effect in the long run. Making to suburbs more family, tourist and commercially

Violent crimes impose significant costs on taxpayers who bear the financial burden of maintain the police personnel and operations, courts, jails, and prisons directed toward these crimes and their perpetrators (Hassett, Shapiro).”

Someone has to pay for all of these damages and arrests as well as the personnel assigned to deal with it. For every homicide in Chicago it reduces the population by 70 people, when businesses and people leave the tax base is lowered. With a lower tax base the city has less ability to deal with the problem, which in return creates more violence (Monroe). Making the remaining residents taxes higher, which may cause them to leave too.

A report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) found that although a key region in the nation cities such as Los Angeles and New York are growing quicker creating more jobs and more economic development. One reason being Chicago “suffers from a significant workforce skills mismatch” (Saunders). Although Chicago is home to some of the best research institutions they don’t seems to be growing as other major cities. Perhaps this is because the professionals mainly only go to the city to educate and leave soon after graduating leaving mostly less skilled workers