An empirical investigation on the links between social exclusion and crime

Abstract

The study explores the elements of excludability related to the social frameworks which are responsible for fueling up the crime rates in a country. The study used proxies developed by the International Institute of Social Studies as a measure for Social Exclusion. The present study examines the relationship using secondary data sources. The data consist of 35 countries covering the time period from 1995 to 2014. The study uses Panel Auto Regressive Distributed Lagged Models (ARDL), purposed by Pesaran, Shin, & Smith (1997) based upon Pooled Mean Group (PMG) estimation. The intergroup cohesion, inclusion of minorities, interpersonal safety and trust and voice accountability had a significant relationship with crime rate. Some demographic and economic variables also had a significant relationship with crime rates. The study concludes that there exists a positive and significant long run relationship between social exclusion and crime. Greater participation in social spheres can play a positive role in building up the society as a whole which will help in combating crime rates.