IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/11871.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Crime and Income Inequality: The Case of Malaysia

Author

Listed:
  • Baharom, A.H.
  • Habibullah, M.S.

Abstract

This paper examines the causality between income inequality and crime in Malaysia for the period 1973-2003. Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bounds testing procedure is employed to (1) analyze the impact of income inequality on various categories of criminal activities as well as to (2) analyze the impact of various categories of criminal activities on income inequality. Interestingly our results indicate that income inequality has no meaningful relationship with any of the various categories of crime selected, such as total crime, violent crime, property crime, theft and burglary. Crime exhibits neither long-run nor short run relationships with income inequality and they are not cointegrated. It cannot be denied that there is ambiguity in the empirical studies of crime economics regarding various income variables leading to often mixed and contradicting results, which might be a good explanation of this finding.

Suggested Citation

  • Baharom, A.H. & Habibullah, M.S., 2008. "Crime and Income Inequality: The Case of Malaysia," MPRA Paper 11871, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:11871
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/11871/1/MPRA_paper_11871.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ayse İmrohoroĝlu & Antonio Merlo & Peter Rupert, 2006. "Understanding the determinants of crime," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 30(2), pages 270-284, June.
    2. Gary S. Becker, 1974. "Crime and Punishment: An Economic Approach," NBER Chapters, in: Essays in the Economics of Crime and Punishment, pages 1-54, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Matz Dahlberg & Magnus Gustavsson, 2008. "Inequality and Crime: Separating the Effects of Permanent and Transitory Income," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 70(2), pages 129-153, April.
    4. John Chisholm & Chongwoo Choe, 2005. "Income variables and the measures of gains from crime," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 57(1), pages 112-119, January.
    5. Mehanna, Rock-Antoine, 2004. "Poverty and economic development: not as direct as it may seem," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 217-228, April.
    6. M. Hashem Pesaran & Yongcheol Shin & Richard J. Smith, 2001. "Bounds testing approaches to the analysis of level relationships," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(3), pages 289-326.
    7. repec:ebl:ecbull:v:11:y:2004:i:1:p:1-9 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Fajnzylber, Pablo & Lederman, Daniel & Loayza, Norman, 2002. "What causes violent crime?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(7), pages 1323-1357, July.
    9. 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.
    10. Lorenzo Blanco & Sandra Villa, 2008. "Sources of crime in the state of Veracruz: The role of female labor force participation and wage inequality," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(3), pages 51-75.
    11. Chiu, W. Henry & Madden, Paul, 1998. "Burglary and income inequality," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 123-141, July.
    12. Brush, Jesse, 2007. "Does income inequality lead to more crime? A comparison of cross-sectional and time-series analyses of United States counties," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 96(2), pages 264-268, August.
    13. Choe, Jongmook, 2008. "Income inequality and crime in the United States," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 101(1), pages 31-33, October.
    14. Narayan, Paresh Kumar & Narayan, Seema, 2005. "Estimating income and price elasticities of imports for Fiji in a cointegration framework," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 423-438, May.
    15. Ehrlich, Isaac, 1973. "Participation in Illegitimate Activities: A Theoretical and Empirical Investigation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 81(3), pages 521-565, May-June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Siti Nur Zahara HAMZAH & Evan LAU, 2013. "The role of social factors in explaining crime," Theoretical and Applied Economics, Asociatia Generala a Economistilor din Romania - AGER, vol. 0(6(583)), pages 99-118, June.
    2. Li, Jing & Wan, Guanghua & Wang, Chen & Zhang, Xueliang, 2019. "Which indicator of income distribution explains crime better? Evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 51-72.
    3. Lau, Evan & Hamzah, Siti Nur Zahara, 2012. "Crimonometric Analysis: Testing the Deterrence Hypothesis in Sabah," MPRA Paper 39297, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Chor Foon Tang, 2011. "An exploration of dynamic relationship between tourist arrivals, inflation, unemployment and crime rates in Malaysia," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 38(1), pages 50-69, January.
    5. Claudio Detotto & Manuela Pulina, 2013. "Does more crime mean fewer jobs and less economic growth?," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 36(1), pages 183-207, August.
    6. Abdul Hamid, Baharom & Habibullah, Muzafar & Mohd Noor, Zaleha, 2013. "Crime and Its Socio-Macroeconomics Determinants: A Panel-Error-Correction Cointegration Analysis," Jurnal Ekonomi Malaysia, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, vol. 47(2), pages 13-24.
    7. Saleemi, Muhammad Waqar & Amir-ud-Din, Rafi, 2019. "How does quality of governance influence occurrence of crime? A longitudinal analysis of Asian countries," MPRA Paper 94142, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Najmeh Izadi, 2012. "The Effect of Income Inequality on Property Crime: Evidence from Iran," Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, AMH International, vol. 4(5), pages 245-251.
    9. Masri bin Abdul Lasi & Erman bin Yunusi, 2020. "Factors Influencing High Crime Rate in Kuala Lumpur Urban Community," International Journal of Publication and Social Studies, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 5(2), pages 147-153, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Najmeh Izadi, 2012. "The Effect of Income Inequality on Property Crime: Evidence from Iran," Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, AMH International, vol. 4(5), pages 245-251.
    2. Awais Anwar & Noman Arshed & Sofia Anwar, 2017. "Socio-economic Determinants of Crime: An Empirical Study of Pakistan," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 7(1), pages 312-322.
    3. Soeren C. Schwuchow, 2023. "Organized crime as a link between inequality and corruption," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 55(3), pages 469-509, June.
    4. Fabio Clementi & Enzo Valentini, 2018. "Economia irregolare, criminalità e disuguaglianza dei redditi: un circolo vizioso? (Black economy, crime, and income inequality: A vicious cycle?)," Moneta e Credito, Economia civile, vol. 71(284), pages 283-296.
    5. Yamamura, Eiji, 2009. "Formal and informal deterrents of crime in Japan: Roles of police and social capital revisited," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 611-621, August.
    6. Li, Jing & Wan, Guanghua & Wang, Chen & Zhang, Xueliang, 2019. "Which indicator of income distribution explains crime better? Evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 51-72.
    7. Neil Metz & Mariya Burdina, 2018. "Neighbourhood income inequality and property crime," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 55(1), pages 133-150, January.
    8. Corvalan, Alejandro & Pazzona, Matteo, 2022. "Inequality, crime and private protection," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 210(C).
    9. Goh, Lim Thye & Law, Siong Hook, 2023. "The crime rate of five Latin American countries: Does income inequality matter?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 745-763.
    10. Demombynes, Gabriel & Ozler, Berk, 2005. "Crime and local inequality in South Africa," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(2), pages 265-292, April.
    11. Sebastian Leitner, 2015. "Effects of Income Inequality on Population Health and Social Outcomes at the Regional Level in the EU," wiiw Working Papers 113, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw.
    12. 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.
    13. Deller, Steven C. & Deller, Melissa, 2005. "Shifting Patterns in Wisconsin Crime Rates," Staff Papers 12627, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics.
    14. Yu Liu & Thomas M. Fullerton Jr. & Nathan J. Ashby, 2013. "Assessing The Impacts Of Labor Market And Deterrence Variables On Crime Rates In Mexico," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 31(4), pages 669-690, October.
    15. Dongxu Wu & Zhongmin Wu, 2012. "Crime, inequality and unemployment in England and Wales," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(29), pages 3765-3775, October.
    16. Abdul Hamid, Baharom & Habibullah, Muzafar & Mohd Noor, Zaleha, 2013. "Crime and Its Socio-Macroeconomics Determinants: A Panel-Error-Correction Cointegration Analysis," Jurnal Ekonomi Malaysia, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, vol. 47(2), pages 13-24.
    17. 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.
    18. Songman Kang, 2016. "Inequality and crime revisited: effects of local inequality and economic segregation on crime," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 29(2), pages 593-626, April.
    19. Fabio Clementi & Francesco Schettino & Enzo Valentini, 2017. "Squilibri distributivi e criminalità nelle regioni italiane," Working Papers 48-2017, Macerata University, Department of Studies on Economic Development (DiSSE), revised May 2017.
    20. Songman Kang, 2016. "Inequality and crime revisited: effects of local inequality and economic segregation on crime," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 29(2), pages 593-626, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Income inequality; crime; bounds testing; Malaysia;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • E00 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General - - - General

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:11871. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.