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Modeling for Determinants of Human Trafficking: An Empirical Analysis

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  • Seo-Young Cho

    (Faculty of Business and Economics, Philipps-University of Marburg, Barfüßertor 2, 35037 Marburg, Germany)

Abstract

This study aims to identify robust push and pull factors of human trafficking. I test for the robustness of 70 push and 63 pull factors suggested in the literature. In doing so, I employ an extreme bound analysis, running more than two million regressions with all possible combinations of variables for up to 153 countries during the period of 1995–2010. My results show that crime prevalence robustly explains human trafficking both in destination and origin countries. Income level also has a robust impact, suggesting that the cause of human trafficking shares that of economic migration. Law enforcement matters more in origin countries than destination countries. Interestingly, a very low level of gender equality may have constraining effects on human trafficking outflow, possibly because gender discrimination limits female mobility that is necessary for the occurrence of human trafficking.

Suggested Citation

  • Seo-Young Cho, 2015. "Modeling for Determinants of Human Trafficking: An Empirical Analysis," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 3(1), pages 2-21.
    • Handle: RePEc:cog:socinc:v:3:y:2015:i:1:p:2-21
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Willert, Bianca, 2021. "Modern Slavery – An Empirical Analysis," Thuenen-Series of Applied Economic Theory 167, University of Rostock, Institute of Economics, revised 2021.
    2. Rauscher, Michael & Willert, Bianca, 2020. "Modern slavery, corruption, and hysteresis," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    3. Hernandez, Diego & Rudolph, Alexandra, 2015. "Modern day slavery: What drives human trafficking in Europe?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 118-139.
    4. Willert, Bianca, 2018. "Masters and slaves: A matching approach with heterogeneous workers," Thuenen-Series of Applied Economic Theory 159, University of Rostock, Institute of Economics.
    5. Michael Rauscher & Bianca Willert, 2019. "Slavery, Corruption, and Institutions," CESifo Working Paper Series 7944, CESifo.
    6. Rauscher, Michael & Willert, Bianca, 2019. "Slavery, corruption, and institutions," Thuenen-Series of Applied Economic Theory 164, University of Rostock, Institute of Economics.
    7. Xiaodan Xie & Felipe Aros‐Vera, 2022. "An interdependent network interdiction model for disrupting sex trafficking networks," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 31(6), pages 2695-2713, June.

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