Does globalisation affect crime? theory and evidence

Ghosh, Arghya; Robertson, Peter E.; Robitaille, Marie-Claire

Abstract

Globalization skeptics argue that trade liberalization has high social costs, including an increase in expropriative behavior such as civil-conflict, coercion of labor and crime. We show that a theoretical relationship between trade and expropriation exists, but the sign differs for developed and developing economies. We verify this empirically using data on crime rates. Specifically we find trade liberalization,as measured by both higher openness and lower import duty rates, tends to increase burglaries and theft in very labor abundant countries. For other countries, however,we find that trade liberalization has either a small negative effect on crime,or no effect, depending on the country’s capital abundance.

Citation

Ghosh, A., Robertson, P. E., & Robitaille, M.-C. (2016). Does globalisation affect crime? theory and evidence. World Economy, 39(10), 1482-1513. https://doi.org/10.1111/twec.12422

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 14, 2015
• Online Publication Date: Jul 18, 2016
• Publication Date: Oct 4, 2016
• Deposit Date: Nov 15, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 15, 2017
• Journal: The World Economy
• Electronic ISSN: 0378-5920
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 39
• Issue: 10
• Pages: 1482-1513
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/twec.12422
• Keywords: Expropriation; International trade; Globalization; Crime
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/824746
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/twec.12422
• Additional Information: This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Ghosh, A., Robertson, P., & Robitaille, M. (2016). Does Globalisation Affect Crime? Theory and Evidence. World Economy, 39(10), 1482-1513., which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/twec.12422. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving
• Contract Date: Nov 15, 2017