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“Hunger makes a thief of any man”: Poverty and crime in British colonial Asia

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  • Kostadis J. Papaioannou

Abstract

This study uses rainfall variation as an instrumental variable for rice production to estimate the impact of poverty on different types of crime across British colonies in South and South East Asia (1910-–1940). Using original primary sources retrieved from annual administrative and statistical reports, it provides some of the first evidence in a historical setting on the causal relationship between poverty and crime. Extreme rainfall, both droughts and floods, lead to a large increase in property crimes (such as robbery, petty theft, and cattle raiding), but not to an increase in interpersonal violent crimes (such as murder, homicides, and assault). In line with a growing body of literature on the climate-economy nexus, this study offers evidence that loss of agricultural income is one of the main causal channels leading to property crime. Additional historical information on food shortages, poverty, and crime is used to explore the connection in greater detail.

Suggested Citation

  • Kostadis J. Papaioannou, 2017. "“Hunger makes a thief of any man”: Poverty and crime in British colonial Asia," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 21(1), pages 1-28.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:ereveh:v:21:y:2017:i:1:p:1-28.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/ereh/hew019
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Papaioannou, Kostadis J. & de Haas, Michiel, 2017. "Weather Shocks and Agricultural Commercialization in Colonial Tropical Africa: Did Cash Crops Alleviate Social Distress?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 346-365.
    2. Biljana Meiske, 2021. "Productivity Shocks and Conflict," Working Papers tax-mpg-rps-2021-18, Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance.
    3. Kostadis J. Papaioannou, 2018. "The Horns of a Dilemma in Colonial Policies:Rice, Rubber and Living Standards in the Malay Peninsula," Working Papers 0122, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    4. Frankema, Ewout & Papaioannou, Kostadis, 2017. "Withdrawn Paper," CEPR Discussion Papers 11795, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    5. Michiel de Haas & Kostadis J. Papaioannou, 2017. "Resource endowments and agricultural commercialization in colonial Africa: Did labour seasonality and food security drive Uganda’s cotton revolution?," Working Papers 0111, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    6. Sara Mota Cardoso & Aurora A. C. Teixeira, 2020. "The Focus on Poverty in the Most Influential Journals in Economics: A Bibliometric Analysis of the “Blue Ribbon” Journals," Poverty & Public Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 12(1), pages 10-42, March.
    7. Vanessa Azevedo & Mariana Magalhães & Daniela Paulo & Rui Leandro Maia & Gisela M. Oliveira & Maria Simas Guerreiro & Ana Isabel Sani & Laura M. Nunes, 2021. "Temporal Variability of Theft Types in the Historic Centre of Porto," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-12, October.

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