4 ms·

The US has a per-capita GDP is close to 5x higher then Chinas. Why would theft be exclusive to the US instead of China?

sremani 10y ago
Many reasons.. but it ultimately comes to one thing, Cops do not give hoot to bike theft, so the rist-reward in bike theft is favorable.
- imron 10y ago
  So no different from China then?
- drozycki 10y ago
  Can you speak to how much the authorities in China care about bike theft?
  - sremani 10y ago
    Cannot comment about China, but again from anectodal personal experience in India, the component of street justice in some places cannot be totally ruled out. If you are caught by a mob while stealing .. brace for Impact! edit: The broader point being "risk" component of theft in certain places is sometimes inhibitive in spite of apathy from authorities.
  - imron 10y ago
    The authorities in China care nothing about bike theft. The best theft-prevention mechanism in China is to have an old, rusty, broken looking bike.
beatpanda 10y ago
In the case of the US per capita GDP just means that we are a country containing many rich people, not a rich country. Income inequality is extreme. When the government or private industry refuses to redistribute money downward, poor people will just take it.
- lacampbell 10y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_income_equality https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_income_eq... According to the "Gini coefficient" wealth inequality is actually slightly higher in China. Any other theories?
  - beatpanda 10y ago
    That depends on whose figures you use. According to the CIA, income inequality is higher in the U.S. That's also a figure for the entire country, not within the cities where these bike share companies operate, and I would guess that there's a much more stark divide between rich and poor in American cities.
    - lacampbell 10y ago
      The CIA gini coefficient is slightly higher for the US, a few percentage points, while the World Bank Gini coefficient is slightly higher for China. Your conjecture about the starker divide between rich and poor in US cities is just that, conjecture. I could guess the same about Chinese cities. So we have no evidence yet that China has less income inequality than the US. Which makes it a very unconvincing reason for differences in crime.
mikekchar 10y ago
I can't talk about China, but this scheme would probably work in a lot of places in Japan. I used to ride my ~$700 hybrid bike to the train station a lot. At first I locked it, but then I noticed that mine was the only locked bike. I ended up leaving it unlocked. Kept that up for 5 years or so and my bike never got stolen (admittedly I live in the country side -- not sure how successful that would be in a big city). When I lived in the UK and Canada, I would never dream of leaving my bike unlocked. Even locked, I've had bikes stolen. Once, I locked my bike to a bike rack and they stole the whole bike rack (must have been a chore!). Most of the time, they will deflate your tyres in hopes that you leave the bike there overnight so that they will have some time to cut off the lock in peace. Anyway, it's just cultural. I suspect that's hard to believe (it would have been hard for me to believe before I left Canada). In each culture there's a lot of stuff that's good and a lot of stuff that's not so good. People really do behave differently, but I've travelled enough to know that one culture isn't really appreciably better than another -- just different.
lacampbell 10y ago
Because a lot more things affect crime than just socio-economic status.

Many reasons.. but it ultimately comes to one thing, Cops do not give hoot to bike theft, so the rist-reward in bike theft is favorable.

imron 10y ago
So no different from China then?
drozycki 10y ago
Can you speak to how much the authorities in China care about bike theft?
- sremani 10y ago
  Cannot comment about China, but again from anectodal personal experience in India, the component of street justice in some places cannot be totally ruled out. If you are caught by a mob while stealing .. brace for Impact! edit: The broader point being "risk" component of theft in certain places is sometimes inhibitive in spite of apathy from authorities.
- imron 10y ago
  The authorities in China care nothing about bike theft. The best theft-prevention mechanism in China is to have an old, rusty, broken looking bike.

beatpanda 10y ago

In the case of the US per capita GDP just means that we are a country containing many rich people, not a rich country. Income inequality is extreme. When the government or private industry refuses to redistribute money downward, poor people will just take it.

lacampbell 10y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_income_equality https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_income_eq... According to the "Gini coefficient" wealth inequality is actually slightly higher in China. Any other theories?
- beatpanda 10y ago
  That depends on whose figures you use. According to the CIA, income inequality is higher in the U.S. That's also a figure for the entire country, not within the cities where these bike share companies operate, and I would guess that there's a much more stark divide between rich and poor in American cities.
  - lacampbell 10y ago
    The CIA gini coefficient is slightly higher for the US, a few percentage points, while the World Bank Gini coefficient is slightly higher for China. Your conjecture about the starker divide between rich and poor in US cities is just that, conjecture. I could guess the same about Chinese cities. So we have no evidence yet that China has less income inequality than the US. Which makes it a very unconvincing reason for differences in crime.

mikekchar 10y ago

I can't talk about China, but this scheme would probably work in a lot of places in Japan. I used to ride my ~$700 hybrid bike to the train station a lot. At first I locked it, but then I noticed that mine was the only locked bike. I ended up leaving it unlocked. Kept that up for 5 years or so and my bike never got stolen (admittedly I live in the country side -- not sure how successful that would be in a big city). When I lived in the UK and Canada, I would never dream of leaving my bike unlocked. Even locked, I've had bikes stolen. Once, I locked my bike to a bike rack and they stole the whole bike rack (must have been a chore!). Most of the time, they will deflate your tyres in hopes that you leave the bike there overnight so that they will have some time to cut off the lock in peace. Anyway, it's just cultural. I suspect that's hard to believe (it would have been hard for me to believe before I left Canada). In each culture there's a lot of stuff that's good and a lot of stuff that's not so good. People really do behave differently, but I've travelled enough to know that one culture isn't really appreciably better than another -- just different.

lacampbell 10y ago

Because a lot more things affect crime than just socio-economic status.