Title: Urban-rural unemployment and crime in India: a panel data analysis

Authors: G. Nagasubramaniyan; Augustine Joseph

Addresses: Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, National Institute of Technology – Tiruchirappalli, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, 620015, India ' Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, National Institute of Technology – Tiruchirappalli, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, 620015, India

Abstract: The primary purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the effect of urban and rural unemployment on various violent and property crimes across 35 states and union territories of India between 1993 and 2017. We have employed a dynamic panel data (DPD) model - the system generalised method of moments (SGMM) for attaining reliable and unbiased results. The DPD model is preferable as it accounts for inertial effects of crime. The findings showed a positive association between urban unemployment and theft. Rural unemployment appeared to be an insignificant factor in determining the incidence of crime in India. The lagged values of the dependent variables are significant for murder, robbery, burglary and theft, confirming the inertial effect of crime. The current study also discusses the possible reasons for the above-mentioned association between economic variables and various types of crime.

Keywords: crime; unemployment; panel data; generalised method of moments; GMM; socio-economic; India.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSE.2024.135196

International Journal of Sustainable Economy, 2024 Vol.16 No.1, pp.1 - 15

Received: 09 Apr 2022
Accepted: 12 Jul 2022
Published online: 02 Dec 2023 *