IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/popdev/v35y2009i4p749-776.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Homicide Rates in a Cross‐Section of Countries: Evidence and Interpretations

Author

Listed:
  • Julio H. Cole
  • Andrés Marroquín Gramajo

Abstract

This study uses a regression analysis to explore the cross‐country variation in homicide rates for a large sample of countries. It starts by identifying seven significant regional variables, to which traditional socioeconomic, cultural, and institutional variables are added and tested. The importance of institutions, culture, and other factors affecting homicide rates is discussed. One unexpected finding is a curious relationship between the level of education and homicide rates: while an increase in male education tends to reduce homicide rates, an increase in female education tends to increase homicides. Several possible interpretations for this phenomenon are proposed. The study points to relatively unexplored areas of research in order to better understand homicide variation around the world.

Suggested Citation

  • Julio H. Cole & Andrés Marroquín Gramajo, 2009. "Homicide Rates in a Cross‐Section of Countries: Evidence and Interpretations," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 35(4), pages 749-776, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:popdev:v:35:y:2009:i:4:p:749-776
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1728-4457.2009.00307.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1728-4457.2009.00307.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1728-4457.2009.00307.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Paul Collier & Anke Hoeffler, 2004. "Murder by Numbers: Socio-Economic Determinants of Homicide and Civil War," Development and Comp Systems 0409048, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Paul Collier & Anke Hoeffler, 2004. "Murder by Numbers: Socio-Economic Determinants of Homicide and Civil War," Economics Series Working Papers WPS/2004-10, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    3. Eric Neumayer, 2005. "Inequality and Violent Crime: Evidence from Data on Robbery and Violent Theft," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 42(1), pages 101-112, January.
    4. Barro, Robert J & Lee, Jong-Wha, 2001. "International Data on Educational Attainment: Updates and Implications," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 53(3), pages 541-563, July.
    5. Kaufmann, Daniel & Kraay, Aart & Mastruzzi, Massimo, 2008. "Governance matters VII : aggregate and individual governance indicators 1996-2007," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4654, The World Bank.
    6. Akerlof, George A, 1998. "Men without Children," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 108(447), pages 287-309, March.
    7. White, Halbert, 1980. "A Heteroskedasticity-Consistent Covariance Matrix Estimator and a Direct Test for Heteroskedasticity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(4), pages 817-838, May.
    8. William Easterly & Ross Levine, 1997. "Africa's Growth Tragedy: Policies and Ethnic Divisions," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 112(4), pages 1203-1250.
    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. Halvorsen, Robert & Palmquist, Raymond, 1980. "The Interpretation of Dummy Variables in Semilogarithmic Equations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 70(3), pages 474-475, June.
    11. Eric Neumayer, 2003. "Good Policy Can Lower Violent Crime: Evidence from a Cross-National Panel of Homicide Rates, 1980–97," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 40(6), pages 619-640, November.
    12. Kaufmann, Daniel & Kraay, Aart & Mastruzzi, Massimo, 2007. "Governance Matters VI: Aggregate and Individual Governance Indicators, 1996-2006," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4280, The World Bank.
    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. Simplice A. Asongu & Jacinta C. Nwachukwu & Chris Pyke, 2019. "The Right to Life: Global Evidence on the Role of Security Officers and the Police in Modulating the Effect of Insecurity on Homicide," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 143(2), pages 727-740, June.
    2. Asongu, Simplice A. & Uduji, Joseph I. & Okolo-Obasi, Elda N., 2019. "Homicide and social media: Global empirical evidence," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    3. Bucheli, José R. & Fontenla, Matías & Waddell, Benjamin James, 2019. "Return migration and violence," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 113-124.
    4. Asongu, Simplice & Acha-Anyi, Paul, 2017. "The Murder Epidemic: A Global Comparative Study," MPRA Paper 85486, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Jan 2018.
    5. Latimaha, Rusli & Ismail, Nor Asmat, 2019. "Examining the Linkages between Street Crime and Selected State Economic Variables in Malaysia: A Panel Data Analysis," Jurnal Ekonomi Malaysia, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, vol. 53(1), pages 59-72.
    6. Alexeev, Michael & Zakharov, Nikita, 2022. "Who profits from windfalls in oil tax revenue? Inequality, protests, and the role of corruption," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 472-492.
    7. Beall, Jo & Fox, Sean, 2011. "PD4: mitigating conflict and violence in Africa’s rapidly growing cities," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 41855, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    8. repec:zbw:bofitp:2022_002 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Blaine Robbins & David Pettinicchio, 2012. "Social Capital, Economic Development, and Homicide: A Cross-National Investigation," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 105(3), pages 519-540, February.
    10. Wolf, Achim & Gray, Ron & Fazel, Seena, 2014. "Violence as a public health problem: An ecological study of 169 countries," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 220-227.
    11. Alexeev, Michael & Zakharov, Nikita, 2022. "Who profits from windfalls in oil tax revenue? Inequality, protests, and the role of corruption," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 472-492.

    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. Svetlana Andrianova & Badi H. Baltagi & Panicos Demetriades & David Fielding, 2017. "Ethnic Fractionalization, Governance and Loan Defaults in Africa," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 79(4), pages 435-462, August.
    2. Mohamed Dridi, 2014. "Corruption and Education: Empirical Evidence," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 4(3), pages 476-493.
    3. Ferguson, Shon & Formai, Sara, 2013. "Institution-driven comparative advantage and organizational choice," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(1), pages 193-200.
    4. Hussien, Abdurohman & Ahmed, Shakeel & Yousaf, Muhammed, 2012. "Does Trade Policy Explain Total Factor Productivity Differences Across Countries?," MPRA Paper 86594, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. 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.
    6. Liam Wren-Lewis, 2015. "Do Infrastructure Reforms Reduce the Effect of Corruption? Theory and Evidence from Latin America and the Caribbean," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank Group, vol. 29(2), pages 353-384.
    7. Hearn, Bruce & Strange, Roger & Piesse, Jenifer, 2017. "Social elites on the board and executive pay in developing countries: Evidence from Africa," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 52(2), pages 230-243.
    8. James L. Butkiewicz & Halit Yanikkaya, 2011. "Institutions and the Impact of Government Spending on Growth," Journal of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(2), pages 319-341, November.
    9. Razmi, Arslan & Rapetti, Martin & Skott, Peter, 2012. "The real exchange rate and economic development," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 151-169.
    10. P. Dorian Owen & R. Quentin Grafton & Tom Kompas, 2004. "Productivity, Factor Accumulation and Social Networks: Theory and Evidence," Econometric Society 2004 Australasian Meetings 224, Econometric Society.
    11. Hielscher, Kai & Markwardt, Gunther, 2012. "The role of political institutions for the effectiveness of central bank independence," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 286-301.
    12. Schnabel, Isabel & Körner, Tobias, 2010. "Public Ownership of Banks and Economic Growth - The Role of Heterogeneity," CEPR Discussion Papers 8138, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    13. Simeon Djankov & Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer, 2010. "Disclosure by Politicians," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(2), pages 179-209, April.
    14. Chakrabarty, Bidisha & Shaw, Kenneth W., 2012. "Eliminating the 20-F reconciliation from IFRS to U.S. GAAP: Short-term and long-term liquidity effects," Research in Accounting Regulation, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 90-95.
    15. Bui, Dien Giau & Chen, Yan-Shing & Hsu, Hsing-Hua & Lin, Chih-Yung, 2020. "Labor unions and bank risk culture: evidence from the financial crisis," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    16. Jiejing Wang, 2020. "Urban government capacity and economic performance: An analysis of Chinese cities," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 52(5), pages 981-1004, August.
    17. Kerekes, Monika, 2012. "Growth miracles and failures in a Markov switching classification model of growth," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(2), pages 167-177.
    18. R. Grafton & Tom Kompas & P. Owen, 2007. "Bridging the barriers: knowledge connections, productivity and capital accumulation," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 28(3), pages 219-231, December.
    19. Richard McManus & F. Gulcin Ozkan, 2015. "On the Consequences of Pro‐Cyclical Fiscal Policy," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 36, pages 29-50, March.
    20. Komlan Fiodendji & Kodjo Evlo, 2015. "Do Institutions Quality Affect FDI Inflows in Sub-Saharan African Countries?," Journal of Applied Finance & Banking, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 5(1), pages 1-8.

    More about this item

    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:bla:popdev:v:35:y:2009:i:4:p:749-776. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0098-7921 .

    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.