Gelir Eşitsizliği ve Yoksulluğun Suçluluk Oranına Etkisine Yönelik Bir Araştırma

Öz

Gelir eşitsizliği ve yoksulluk, ister gelişmiş isterse gelişmekte olsun her ülkenin içinde bulunduğu sosyo-ekonomik koşullardan etkilenen, aynı zamanda bu koşulları etkileyen önemli olgular olarak kabul edilmektedir. Ayrıca, gelir eşitsizliği ve yoksulluk ülkelere göre değişkenlik göstermekle birlikte, sosyo-ekonomik, kültürel, siyasal ve hukuksal yapılarla bağı olan suç ile de yakından ilişkilidir. Suç bireysel, toplumsal ve ekonomik pek çok istikrarsızlığa yol açabilecek önemli bir olgudur. Bu bağlamda suç olgusunun çeşitli sosyal ve ekonomik göstergelerle incelenmesi gerektiği düşünülmektedir. Bu doğrultuda çalışmanın amacı, düşük ve yüksek gelir eşitsizliğinin gerçekleştiği ülke grupları kapsamında, suçluluk oranı ile yoksulluk ve gelir eşitsizliği arasındaki ilişkinin incelenmesidir. Çalışmada ülke grupları bazında iki model kurgulanmış ve panel veri analizi yöntemiyle suçluluk oranı ile yoksulluk ve gelir eşitsizliği ilişkisi araştırılmıştır. Çalışma kapsamında elde edilen bulgulara göre; gelir eşitsizliği için kullanılan Gini katsayısı yalnızca düşük eşitsizliğin gerçekleştiği ülkelerde anlamlı ve suç oranını azaltıcı yönde bir sonuç vermektedir. Yoksulluk oranı ise hem düşük hem de yüksek eşitsizliğin olduğu ülkelerde istatistiki olarak anlamlı katsayılar elde edilmesine imkan vermektedir. Ekonometrik modelde yoksulluk oranının suçluluk oranı ile anlamlı ve pozitif yönlü bir ilişkisi olduğu gözlenmektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• gelir eşitsizliği
• yoksulluk
• suç
• panel veri analizi.

A Study on the Effect of Income Inequality and Poverty on Crime Rates

Öz

Income inequality and poverty are accepted as important phenomena that are affected by the socio-economic conditions of every country, whether developed or developing, and also affect these conditions. In addition, although income inequality and poverty vary according to countries, they are closely related to factors such as crime, which are related to socio-economic, cultural, political and legal structures. Crime is seen as an important phenomenon that can lead to many individual, social and economic instabilities. In this context, it is thought that the phenomenon of crime should be examined with various social and economic indicators. In this respect, the aim of this study is to examine the relationship between poverty and income inequality, which is accepted by the literature that may affect the rate of criminality and crime rates, within the scope of country groups with low- and high-income inequality. In this study, two models are constructed based on country groups and the relationship between the crime rate and poverty and income inequality is investigated by panel data analysis. According to the findings of the study, the Gini coefficient is significant and negatively correlated with the crime rate only in countries with low inequality. The poverty rate, on the other hand, is significant and positively correlated with the crime rates, in other words, it increases the crime rate in countries with both low and high inequality

Anahtar Kelimeler

• income inequality
• poverty
• crime
• panel data analysis.

Kaynakça

1. Akdi, Y., Karamanoğlu, Y. E., Şahin, A. (2014). Eğitim düzeyine göre işsizlik, fiyatlar ve suç ilişkisi: Türkiye üzerine bir uygulama. Güvenlik Bilimleri Dergisi, 3(2), 119-143.
2. Anser, M. K., Yousaf, Z., Nassani, A. A., Alotaibi, S. M., Kabbani, A., Zaman, K. (2020). Dynamic linkages between poverty, inequality, crime, and social expenditures in a panel of 16 countries: Two-step GMM estimates. Journal of Economic Structures, 9(1), 1-25.
3. Baltagi, B. H. (2013). Econometric analysis of panel data. John Wiley & Sons.
4. Baltagi, B., Li, Q. (1991). A joint test for serial correlation and random individual effects. Statistics and Probability Letters, 11, 277-280.
5. Berk, R. A., Lenihan, K. J., Rossi, P. H. (1980). Crime and poverty: Some experimental evidence from ex-offenders. American Sociological Review , 45(5), 766-786.
6. Blau, J. R., Blau, P. M. (1982). The cost of inequality: Metropolitan structure and violent crime. American Sociological Review , 47(1), 114-129.
7. Born, B., Breitung, J. (2016). Testing for serial correlation in fixed-effects panel data models. Econometric Reviews, 35(7), 1290-1316.
8. Breusch, T., Pagan, A. (1979). A simple test for heteroscedasticity and random coefficient variation. Econometrica, 47, 1287-1294.

9. Breusch, T., Pagan, A. (1980). The Lagrange Multiplier test and its applications to model specification in econometrics. Review of Economic Studies, 47(1), 239-253.
10. Brush, J. (2007). Does income inequality lead to more crime? A comparison of cross-sectional and time-series analyses of United States Counties. Economics Letters, 96(2), 264-268.
11. Calderón, S., Valero Gil, J. N. (2012). About the relation of inequality and poverty with crime in Mexico. Journal of International Business and Economics, 12(1), 72-77.
12. Cömertler, N., Kar, M. (2007). Türkiye’de suç oranının sosyo-ekonomik belirleyicileri: Yatay kesit analizi. Ankara Üniversitesi SBF Dergisi, 62(2), 37-57.
13. Çalışkan, Ş (2010). Türkiye’de gelir eşitsizliği ve yoksulluk. Sosyal Siyaset Konferansları, 59, 89-132.
14. Enamorado, T., López-Calva, L. F., Rodríguez-Castelán, C., Winkler, H. (2016). Income inequality and violent crime: Evidence from Mexico’s drug war. Journal of Development Economics, 120, 128-143.
15. Fafchamps, M., Minten, B. (2006). Crime, transitory poverty, and isolation: Evidence from Madagascar. Economic Development and Cultural Change, 54(3), 579-603.
16. Fajnzylber, P., Lederman, D., Loayza, N. (2002a). Inequality And violent crime. Journal of Law and Economics, 45(1), 1-40.
17. Fajnzylber, P, Lederman, D., Loayza, N. (2002b), What causes violent crime?. European Economic Review, 46, 1323-1357.
18. Gaitán-Rossi, P., Guadarrama, C. V.(2021). A systematic literature review of the mechanisms linking crime and poverty. Convergencia Revista de Ciencias Sociales, 28, 1-25.
19. Godfrey, L. (1978). Testing for multiplicative heteroscedasticity. Journal of Econometrics, 8, 227–236.
20. Goh, L. T., Kaliappan, S. R., İshak, S. (2018). Income inequality and crime: Evidence from a dynamic panel data approach. International Journal of Economics and Management, 12(2), 479-490.
21. Hannon, L. (2002). Criminal opportunity theory and the relationship between poverty and property crime. Sociological Spectrum, 22, 363–381.
22. Harvey, D. (2001). Globalization and the “spatial fix”. Geographische Revue, 2, 23-30.
23. Hojman, D. E. (2002). Explaining crime in Buenos Aires: The roles of inequality, unemployment, and structural change. Bulletin of Latin American Research, 21(1), 121-128.
24. Holzman-Escareno, A. (2012). The cause of crime. English 215 final project, 15-22. https://hilo.hawaii.edu/campuscenter/hohonu/volumes/documents/Vol07x03TheCauseofCrime.pdf, (Erişim tarihi: 03.06.2022).
25. Hooghe, M., Vanhoutte, B., Hardyns, W., Bircan, T. (2011). Unemployment, inequality, poverty and crime: Spatial distribution patterns of criminal acts in Belgium, 2001–06. The British Journal of Criminology, 51(1), 1-20.
26. Huang, C.C, Laing, D., Wang, P. (2004). Crime and poverty: A search-theoretic approach. International Economic Review, 45(3), 909- 938.
27. Kambon, A., Henderson, G. (2008). Exploring policy linkages between poverty, crime and violence: A look at three Caribbean States. United Nations Publications, Spain.
28. Kang, S. (2016). Inequality and crime revisited: Effects of local inequality and economic segregation on crime. Journal of Population Economics, 29(2), 593-626.
29. Kelly, M. (2000). Inequality and crime. The Review of Economics and Statistics, 82(4), 530-539.
30. Korpi, W., Palme, J. (1998). The paradox of redistribution and strategies of equality: Welfare state institutions, inequality, and poverty in the Western Countries. American Sociological Review, 63(5), 661-687.
31. Kujala, P., Kallio, J., Niemelä, M. (2019). Income inequality, poverty, and fear of crime in Europe. Cross-Cultural Research, 53(2), 163-185.
32. Metz, N., Burdina, M. (2016). How neighborhood inequality leads to higher crime rates. USApp–American Politics and Policy Blog.
33. Neumayer, E. (2005). Inequality and violent crime: Evidence from data on robbery and violent theft. Journal of Peace Research, 42(1), 101-112.
34. Odabaşı, S. (2022). Türkiye’de suç ve iktisadi belirleyicileri: Panel veri analizi. İzmir İktisat Dergisi, 37(3), 586-606.
35. OECD. (17.07.2023). Income inequality. https://data.oecd.org/inequality/income-inequality.htm.
36. Pare, P. P., Felson, R. (2014). Income inequality, poverty and crime across nations. The British Journal of Sociology, 65(3), 434-458.
37. Patterson, E. B. (1991). Poverty, income inequality, and community crime rates. Criminology, 29(4), 755-776.
38. Pinto, P. R. (2013). Why inequalities matter. Reducing inequalities: A Sustainable development challenge içinde (ss. 17-35) (Eds. R. Genev, R. K. Pachauri ve L. Tubiana), Delhi: The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI).
39. Polat, A. (2008). Suç istatistiklerine ilişkin sorunlar ve öneriler. Polis Bilimleri Dergisi. 10 (1), https://www.acarindex.com/pdfs/346474
40. Sitthiyot, T., Holasut, K. (2020). A simple method for measuring inequality. Palgrave Communication, 6, 112. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-020-0484-6
41. Smith, S., Ferguson, C. J., Askew, R., Pitts, J., Hinderleider, A. (2021). Gun ownership, poverty, and mental health associations with crime: A cross-state comparison. Criminology & Criminal Justice. https://doi.org/10.1177/17488958211060473
42. Şentürk-Ulucak, Z., Bilgili, F. (2020). Suçun iktisadi analizi: Türkiye ve Avrupa ülkeleri üzerine bir uygulama. Sosyoekonomi, 28(46), 349-370.
43. Tabachnick, B. G., Fidell, L. S. (2001). Principal components and factor analysis. Using multivariate statistics içinde (ss. 582-652) (Ed. B. G. Tabachnick ve L. S. Fidell), Allyn & Bacon.
44. Temiz, H. E. (2008). Dünyada Kronik Yoksulluk ve Önleme Stratejileri. Çalışma ve Toplum, 2008/2, 61-100.
45. Tsushima, M. (1996). Economic structure and crime: The case of Japan. The Journal of Socio-Economics, 25(4), 497-515.
46. Tunca, H. (2019). Suçun sosyo-ekonomik belirleyicileri: panel veri analizi. İnsan ve Toplum Bilimleri Araştırmaları Dergisi, 8(4), 2767-2784.
47. UNDP. (2011). Income inequality and the condition of chronic poverty. Towards human resilience: Sustaining MDG progress in an age of economic uncertainty içinde (ss. 184-222), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Bureau for Development Policy, New York.
48. UNODC. (2012). Monitoring the impact of economic crisis on crime. United Nations Office On Drugs and Crime (UNODC), https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/statistics/crime/GIVAS_Final_Report.pdf, (Erişim tarihi: 20.02.2023).
49. Wang, C., Wan, G., Zhang, X. (2017). Which dimensıion of income distribution drives crime? Evidence from the people’s Republic of China. Asian Development Bank Institute Working Paper Series, No. 704, Tokyo.
50. Webster, C., Kingston, S. (2014). Anti-poverty strategies for the UK: Poverty and crime review. Project Report. Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Centre for Applied Social Research (CeASR) Leeds Metropolitan University.
51. Yaacoub, S. (2017). Poverty, inequality and the social causes of crime: A study between United States and Europe. International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR), 6(10), 629-634.
52. Yıldız, F. (2020). Türkiye’de gelir eşitsizliği suç ilişkisi panel veri analizi yaklaşımı. İnsan & Toplum, 111-143.
53. Yorulmaz, Ö., Giray Yakut, S. (2017). Türkiye’de suç oranını etkileyen sosyoekonomik faktörlerin incelenmesi: Path analizine dayanıklı yaklaşım. Marmara Üniversitesi İktisadi ve İdari Bilimler Dergisi, 39(1), 307-322.