India's Private Security Industry
The Economic Cost of Insecurity
How spending on security, from guards to locks, is a cost that doesn't produce new goods, and how better public safety can free resources for productive use.
Security spending is a cost of insecurity.
Guard labour
Millions of workers guard rather than produce goods and services.
Other costs
- Locks, gates and cameras.
- Insurance premiums.
- Time spent on checks.
Deadweight cost
In a safer society, these resources could go to productive uses.
Guard labour research
Economists Samuel Bowles and Arjun Jayadev called this “guard labour”, finding it higher in more unequal societies.
Balance
Some security is necessary; the question is how much is wasteful.
The saved resources
In a safer neighbourhood, a society spends less on guards and more on a playground.
Thinking security spending is purely productive
It's partly a cost of insecurity.
Key takeaways
- Security spending is a cost of insecurity.
- Guard labour doesn't produce goods.
- Unequal societies have more guard labour.
- Safer societies free resources.
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