Relationship between crime and economic affluence in India: an empirical study from 1982 to 2013

Abstract

Purpose

There have been limited studies which investigate the interlinkage between crime and economic affluence. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the linkage between crime and economic affluence in India.

Design/methodology/approach

The study is based on annual data spans over the time period 1982-2013. Standard econometric tools like unit root test, co-integration and two stage least square technique have been used to analyze data and to draw inferences.

Findings

The study finds that crime and economic affluence are interlinked in India. However, the nature of the linkage is not uniform over the time span. It is observed that economic affluence affects violent crime positively in the long run, but crime effects affluence negatively. In the short run, however, the relationship between crime and economic affluence is observed to be reversed.

Originality/value

This study is first of its nature to investigate the bi-directional linkage between crime and economic affluence in India. This study helps us to understand that controlling the crime rate is the urgent need of the hour to alleviate the pace of long run economic affluence in India.

Citation

Debnath, A. and Das, S. (2017), "Relationship between crime and economic affluence in India: an empirical study from 1982 to 2013", Journal of Criminological Research, Policy and Practice, Vol. 3 No. 1, pp. 27-37. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCRPP-05-2016-0007