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The nexus between poverty and crime: evidence from India

Author

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  • Okedina, Jellil
  • Masih, Mansur

Abstract

This paper tests the theoretical relationship between poverty and crime in India. The motivation is the U.S. diplomatic reports on crime that indicated violent crime rates in India increased by 15.1% even though poverty rate decreased by 0.625% within the same period. To explore the relationship between crime and poverty the standard time series techniques are applied. India is taken as a case study. The results indicate that there is a co-integration between crime and poverty. However, crime is found to be more exogenous than poverty. This finding corroborates with earlier studies in the literature that poverty plays insignificant role in driving crime but crime may keep people in poverty due to factors such as, crime record and education. The implication of the result is that the Indian government needs to strengthen the criminal justice system to fight crime while ensuring a fair distribution of wealth.

Suggested Citation

  • Okedina, Jellil & Masih, Mansur, 2018. "The nexus between poverty and crime: evidence from India," MPRA Paper 109263, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:109263
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Scorzafave, Luiz Guilherme & Soares, Milena Karla, 2009. "Income inequality and pecuniary crimes," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 104(1), pages 40-42, July.
    2. Cortés, Darwin & Santamaría, Julieth & Vargas, Juan F., 2016. "Economic shocks and crime: Evidence from the crash of Ponzi schemes," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 131(PA), pages 263-275.
    3. Enamorado, Ted & López-Calva, Luis F. & Rodríguez-Castelán, Carlos & Winkler, Hernán, 2016. "Income inequality and violent crime: Evidence from Mexico's drug war," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 128-143.
    4. Fajnzylber, Pablo & Lederman, Daniel & Loayza, Norman, 2002. "Inequality and Violent Crime," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 45(1), pages 1-40, April.
    5. Chintrakarn, Pandej & Herzer, Dierk, 2012. "More inequality, more crime? A panel cointegration analysis for the United States," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 116(3), pages 389-391.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Crime; Poverty; VECM; VDC; India;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C22 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions; Dynamic Treatment Effect Models; Diffusion Processes
    • C58 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Financial Econometrics
    • I3 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty

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