An economic approach of the criminality: evidences for the city of São Paulo This three-article PhD thesis aims to investigate the causes of crime using an economic approach. The first two articles are independent, but complementary. In these articles, the objective is to shed light on possible causes of reductions in the crime rate in São Paulo city, focusing on the citizen disarmament policy, police performance, economic conditions and, particularly, the labor market. In the first article, the objective is assessing the effect of the Disarmament Statute on lethal crime rates. For this purpose, we used time-series data for São Paulo city in applying an intervention analysis methodology. The hypothesis that the disarmament policy led to a decline in the lethal crime rate is not rejected. Based on this evidence, the main objective of the second article is to investigate possible causes for the significant reduction observed in crime rates in São Paulo city. By applying a cointegration analysis, we observed long-run relationships between crime, economic activity and police performance. The results indicate that the lethal crime rate is positively related to unemployment and negatively related to real wages and to the results of law-enforcement activities, specifically arrests and seizure of firearms. Moreover, the hypothesis that the Disarmament Statute led to a reduction in the lethal crime rate is not rejected, reinforcing the conclusion arrived at in the first article of this thesis. In the third article, the focus of the analysis shifts to the determinants of criminal victimization. In this study, the objective is to investigate the effects of the wealth of individuals on the risk of becoming victims of property crimes, particularly crimes of theft/robbery of residence and theft/robbery of person. Specifically, its aim is to investigate whether the relationship between wealth and victimization risk can be described by a concave down parabola. Data from two household surveys on victimization held in São Paulo were used to estimate probit models. It became evident that the wealth of individuals is one of the determinants of victimization risk. And it was found that criminal victimization risk increases with wealth, but that it reaches a maximum point from which it decreases as wealth levels increase.