EFFECTS OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND MIGRATION ON THE CRIME RATES WITHIN THE EUROPEAN UNION

Yıl 2017, Cilt: 26 Sayı: 2, 336 - 343, 31.10.2017

Süleyman Bilgin Kılıç

Öz

In this study,
effects of economic development and migration on the crime rates are investigated
for the European Union countries. In the study, economic development level is
measured in terms of gross domestic product per capita in purchasing power parity (GDP per capita in PPP). Six
crime categories are considered; intentional homicides, rape, assault, sexual assault, theft and vandalism as a number of occurrences per hundred
thousand inhabitants of countries. Migration rate is measured as a percentage
of migrants of the total population per year. Data were obtained from Euro stat
database and covers 30 nations for the period of 2008-2013. In the study, we
first performed principal component analysis (PCA). The objective of the PCA is to determine the crime
factor scores which represent a crime levels as a whole for each of the
nations, and also to determine the important components of these crime factor
scores. Then, a cross-country regression analysis performed as
crime factor scores a dependent variable and economic development level and
migration rate as independent variables. Results show that, a significant
positive relation exists between the economic
development level and the crime factor scores. Also, high
migration rates don’t lead to higher
crime rates.

Anahtar Kelimeler

European Union, crime rates, economic development

Kaynakça

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