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The Murder Epidemic: A Global Comparative Study

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  • Simplice Asongu

    (Yaoundé/Cameroun)

  • Paul Acha-Anyi

    (Pretoria, South Africa)

Abstract

We build on literature from policy and academic circles to assess if Latin America is leading when it comes to persistence in homicides. The focus is on a global sample of 163 countries for the period 2010 to 2015. The empirical evidence is based on Generalised Method of Moments. The following main finding is established. The region with the highest evidence of persistence in homicides is sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), followed by Latin America, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and then by Europe & Central Asia (ECA). In order to increase room for policy implications, the dataset is decomposed into income levels, religious domination, landlockedness and legal origins. From the conditioning information set, the following factors account for persistence in global homicides: crime, political instability and weapons import positively affect homicides whereas the number of “security and police officers” has the opposite effect.

Suggested Citation

  • Simplice Asongu & Paul Acha-Anyi, 2017. "The Murder Epidemic: A Global Comparative Study," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 17/059, African Governance and Development Institute..
    • Handle: RePEc:agd:wpaper:17/059
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    Cited by:

    1. Asongu, Simplice & Acha-Anyi, Paul, 2019. "Global Tourism and Waves of Terror: Perspectives from Military Expenditure," MPRA Paper 101793, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Simplice Asongu & Christelle Meniago, 2018. "Technology and persistence in global software piracy," Netnomics, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 43-63, October.
    3. 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.
    4. Simplice A. Asongu, 2019. "The persistence of global terrorism," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 19/053, African Governance and Development Institute..
    5. 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).
    6. Idris A. Abdulqadir & Simplice A. Asongu, 2021. "The asymmetric effect of internet access on economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa: Insight from a dynamic panel threshold regression," Research Africa Network Working Papers 21/014, Research Africa Network (RAN).
    7. Simplice A. Asongu & Jacinta C. Nwachukwu & Stella-Maris I. Orim & Chris Pyke, 2019. "Crime and Social Media," Research Africa Network Working Papers 19/003, Research Africa Network (RAN).
    8. Lilik Sugiharti & Miguel Angel Esquivias & Mohd Shahidan Shaari & Lussi Agustin & Hilda Rohmawati, 2022. "Criminality and Income Inequality in Indonesia," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-19, March.
    9. Simplice A. Asongu & Jacinta Nwachukwu, 2019. "Mitigating externalities of terrorism on tourism: global evidence from police, security officers and armed service personnel," Current Issues in Tourism, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(20), pages 2466-2471, December.
    10. Abdulqadir, Idris A. & Asongu, Simplice A., 2022. "The asymmetric effect of internet access on economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 44-61.
    11. Asongu, Simplice & Nnanna, Joseph & Biekpe, Nicholas & Acha-Anyi, Paul, 2018. "Contemporary Drivers of Global Tourism: Evidence from Terrorism and Peace Factors," MPRA Paper 91996, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Simplice A. Asongu & Joseph I. Uduji & Elda N. Okolo-Obasi, 2019. "The Persistence of Weapons: Global Evidence," Working Papers 19/068, European Xtramile Centre of African Studies (EXCAS).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Homicides; Global evidence; Persistence; Latin America;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
    • P50 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Comparative Economic Systems - - - General

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