HOMELAND SECURITY
Ram-raids highlight the peculiar relationship between inflation and theft Amid historically high inflation rates, Scott La Franchie writes that academic research points to a positive correlation between inflation and the incidence of property crime: as inflation increases, so too does theft.
Scott La Franchie, General Manager – Marketing and Product at FIRST Security.
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Inflation is often characterised as the ‘invisible thief ’ due to the fact that high inflation rates result in devaluing people’s savings. If a $50 bag of groceries is now costing you $55 at the checkout thanks to inflation, it can feel like someone’s just picked $5 from your pocket. That feeling of being ‘robbed’ has felt pretty raw among New Zealand’s motorists, who’ve been suffering eye-watering price hikes in recent months at the pump. But while that feeling of being short-changed may be well justified, according to a range of research there exists a far more substantive correlation between inflation and theft.
While we’re talking fuel prices, it’s interesting that the MTA noted a couple of years back that service station fuel thefts were rising in New Zealand along with the price of petrol and diesel. “When fuel prices started rising in late 2017,” stated the MTA, “so too did the number of drive-offs.” In a news article published recently, the ABC in the US similarly noted that ”as gas prices continue to rise, so have reports about gas theft, either through stolen credit cards, or straight out of the tank.” But what about inflation beyond the pump?
Line of Defence
