The effects of unemployment and income on crime: A panel data analysis on Turkey

Abstract

Today, the reason of the crime is a subject, that attract much attention from the researchers. It is accepted that the growth of the crime rates damages population by psychologically and economically. The issue of the relation between crime rates and economic variables is a famous hypothesis. Therefore the effect of the economic variables on the crime rates is the subject of many academic researches. But, research made in different countries and with different methodologies shows inconsistent results. Especially in the growing countries like Turkey, which economic parameters change rapidly, the investigation of the relation between crime and economic variables gives a different point of view about this issue. The objective of this paper is to analyze the relation between, various crime types and economic variables, unemployment and gross domestic product per capita. The second purpose of this paper is to determine the direction of the causality. The data set used in the study is the crime rates, unemployment and gross domestic product per capita series between 1990 and 2010.