Does higher educational attainment imply less crime? Evidence from the Indian states

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 133-165
Author(s):  
Bijoy Rakshit ◽  
Yadawananda Neog

PurposeThe primary purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the impact of educational attainment on crime rates across 33 Indian states over the period 2001 to 2013. This paper also examines the role of various macroeconomic, socio-economic and demographic factors in determining the variation of crimes in India.Design/methodology/approachFirst, this paper provides a representative theoretical model and discusses the possible relationship between crime and education. Second, the paper applies a dynamic panel data (DPD) model to extract more precise, unbiased and reliable estimates of the effect of education in abating different crime rates. The main advantage of using the dynamic panel model is to address the problem of endogeneity in some regressors and capture the time persistent effect of education on crime.FindingsEmpirical findings reveal that a 1% increase in gross enrolment ratio leads to the reduction of total crime by 8%. However, a unique finding identifies a positive association between tertiary education and economic crime. This finding further goes against the general belief that criminals tend to be less educated than non-criminals.Practical implicationsThis paper recommends that instead of punishment and mandatory law enforcement for offenders, increase in government expenditure and different educational attainment ratios can go a long way to combat crime in India, which has posed a serious threat to the stability of society. Furthermore, utilizing the information on offenders' educational attainment in examining the crime rates can be a future research agenda for policymakers.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the empirical debate of ‘crime-education nexus’ by examining the role of education on crime in India. This study is the first of its kind that focuses on the aspects of crime and education more recently and investigates the relationship between crime and education due to the recent changes in educational attainment ratios and crime rate.

Author(s):  
Maryam Fattahi

One of the available challenges in areas of health economics is identification of the effective factors on health expenditures. Air pollution plays important role in the public and private health expenditure but most studies have ignored the role of this category in explanation of health expenditures. On the other hand, the impact of air pollution on health expenditures is influenced by several factors. This study intends to investigate the effect of air pollution on public and private health expenditures and to identify the urbanization rate factor affecting the relationship between air pollution and public and private health expenditures. Scope of the present study is developing countries over period of 1995-2011. We used a dynamic panel and Generalized Method of Moments method. The empirical results indicate that air pollution has positive and significant effect on public and private health expenditures. Also, the results imply that urbanization rate affecting the relationship between air pollution and health expenditures that urbanization rate plays a reinforcing role.


2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (7) ◽  
pp. 1418-1436 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabio Mazzola ◽  
Pietro Pizzuto ◽  
Giovanni Ruggieri

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to verifying the economic resilience of islands and, in particular, the role of the tourism sector in the reaction to the most recent economic crisis. The analysis concerns insular contexts, such as the greater island regions in the Mediterranean basin. Design/methodology/approach Static and dynamic panel data techniques are used for a sample of 13 island economies over a period of 16 years. Findings Results show that the growth factors for regional islands are similar to the ones usually considered for other regions, but the tourism-led growth hypothesis is highly supported. Tourism demand more than supply plays a role together with accessibility. The crisis has reduced the importance of tourism supply, while tourism demand and accessibility have remained crucial for growth together with other traditional engines of growth. Originality/value To the best of authors’ knowledge, none of the current works has considered territorial determinants and tourism indicators inside the same framework analyzing growth in island economies by considering the changes occurred during the crisis explicitly.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dolly Gaur ◽  
Dipti Ranjan Mohapatra

PurposeIn recent years, the Indian banking sector is facing a major cause of concern in the form of Nonperforming Assets (NPA), and the priority sector lending (PSL) is generally recognized as the major factor contributing to it. Thus, the present study has been carried out with the objective of examining the relationship between priority sector lending and GDP growth. Thereafter, the role of PSL and certain other bank-specific, industry-specific and macroeconomic variables in determining NPA has been studied.Design/methodology/approachTaking a sample of 45 scheduled commercial banks, the study has been carried out for 14 years (2004–2018). Granger causality between PSL and GDP has been examined by applying the Dumitrescu-Hurlin test. For the purpose of investigating the impact of PSL and other determinants on NPA, both static and dynamic panel regression have been performed. Under the dynamic panel, system generalized methods of moments (S-GMM) approach has been followed.FindingsThe findings show that there exists a positive correlation and bidirectional causal relationship between PSL and GDP, which implies that PSL brings additional growth for the whole economy. In addition to it, PSL is found to be insignificant for the NPA ratio, and thus, it can be inferred that credit extended to government-specified sectors does not bring any major increase in the bad loan portfolio of banks.Practical implicationsThe policymakers and bank management can take a cue from the findings of this study to decrease the exposure to loan nonrepayment issue. The priority sectors are in need of formal credit for their growth, and since the rising population of the country can find employment in these sectors, banks should meet their credit needs while securing their position with regard to the NPA problem.Originality/valueThe issue of NPA determinants, and in particular, the contribution of priority sector lending in it has not been much explored for Indian banking sector. Also, the present study adds to the literature by using the causality approach for examining the importance of directed credit schemes for economic growth.


2015 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 503-524 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abubakr Saeed ◽  
Muhammad Sameer

Purpose – This paper aims to empirically investigate the impact of bank market concentration of financial constraints on firm investment. Design/methodology/approach – This analysis is based on cross-industries panel of 368 listed Pakistani non-financial firms over the period of 2001-2009. Further, the Generalized Method of Moments estimation technique has been used to estimate the dynamic panel data model. Findings – By applying a dynamic panel analysis, it was found that small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are financially constrained in the credit market. The main finding indicates that reduction in bank concentration eases financing constraints, and this effect is more pronounced for SMEs. In addition, while testing the firm opacity in this context, results reveal that opaque firms are more financially constrained, and bank market competition is less favourable to the firms with greater opacity. Originality/value – The results, first, assess the efficacy of ongoing financial reforms in Pakistan and, second, offer implications for other economies that exhibit financial development similar to that of Pakistan.


2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 462-476
Author(s):  
Brian Tavonga Mazorodze ◽  
Dev D. Tewari

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to establish the empirical link between real exchange rate (RER) undervaluation and sectoral growth in South Africa between 1984 and 2014.Design/methodology/approachThe study employs a dynamic panel data approach estimated by the system generalised method of moments technique in a bid to control for endogeneity.FindingsThe authors find a significant positive impact of undervaluation on sectoral growth which increases with capital accumulation. Also, the authors confirm that undervaluation promotes sectoral growth up to a point where further increases in undervaluation retards growth.Practical implicationsThe results confirm the importance of policies that keep the domestic currency weaker to foster sectoral growth.Originality/valueThe originality of this paper lies in establishing the impact of exchange rate undervaluation on growth at a sector level in the context of South Africa using a dynamic panel data approach.


2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 141-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simplice A. Asongu ◽  
Jacinta C. Nwachukwu

Purpose – Education as a weapon in the fight against conflict and violence remains widely debated in policy and academic circles. Against the background of growing political instability in Africa and the central role of the knowledge economy in twenty-first century development, this paper provides three contributions to existing literature. The purpose of this paper is to assess how political stability/non-violence is linked to the incremental, synergy and lifelong learning effects of education. Design/methodology/approach – The authors define lifelong learning as the combined knowledge acquired during primary, secondary and tertiary education. Principal component analysis is used to reduce the dimensions of educational and political indicators. An endogeneity robust dynamic system Generalized Methods of Moments is used for the estimations. Findings – The authors establish three main findings. First, education is a useful weapon in the fight against political instability. Second, there is an incremental effect of education in the transition from secondary to tertiary schools. Third, lifelong learning also has positive and synergy effects. This means that the impact of lifelong learning is higher than the combined independent effects of various educational levels. The empirical evidence is based on 53 African countries for the period 1996-2010. Practical implications – A plethora of policy implications are discussed, inter alia: how the drive towards increasing the knowledge economy through lifelong learning can be an effective tool in the fight against violence and political insurgency in Africa. Originality/value – As the continent is nursing knowledge economy ambitions, the paper is original in investigating the determinants of political stability/non-violence from three dimensions of education attainment: the incremental, the lifelong learning and a synergy effect.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Reena Bhattu-Babajee ◽  
Boopen Seetanah

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to empirically assess the impact of value-added intellectual capital (VAIC) on the financial performance (FP) of companies in Mauritius.Design/methodology/approachThe research uses a dynamic panel vector error correction model (PVECM) which simultaneously allows for endogeneity and causality issues among the variables used.FindingsThe results show that VAIC enhances corporate FP, with a reported lower effect in the short run as compared to the long run. Other important determinants of firm’s performance are asset turnover, capital turnover and firm’s size. Leverage, on the other hand, is observed to be performance reducing in nature. FP of the companies is also a significant determinant of VAIC, implying reverse causal effects exist between the two variables of interest, namely, VAIC and FP.Research limitations/implicationsThe study can be enhanced by doing an industry-specific comparison of the impact of VAIC on FP for more insights.Practical implicationsIt is recommended that managers pay more attention to the role of firms’ stock of tangible and intangible assets, as this has a positive impact on firms’ FP. Also, the results may help to increase awareness of the importance of effective intellectual capital (IC) management within an organization. More so, as demonstrated by Ståhle et al. (2011), VAIC indicates the efficiency of the company’s labor and capital investments within firms in Mauritius. This study may, therefore, enable Mauritian firms to measure their IC efficiency and develop policies to promote and improve upon their intellectual potential to enhance firm’s performance.Originality/valueThe main theoretical contribution of this paper relates to the assessment and conceptualization of the bi-directional relationship between VAIC and FP. It confirmed that there are self-reinforcing feedback effects between VAIC and FP. Methodologically speaking, this paper investigates the VAIC–FP nexus in a dynamic setting using a dynamic panel data framework, namely, a PVECM which also allows for additional insights into the short- and long-run effects.


2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 303-322 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Garnero ◽  
Romina Giuliano ◽  
Benoit Mahy ◽  
François Rycx

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to estimate the impact of fixed-term contracts (FTCs) on labour productivity, wages (i.e. labour cost), and productivity-wage gaps (i.e. profits). Design/methodology/approach – The authors apply dynamic panel data techniques to detailed Belgian linked employer-employee panel data covering the period 1999-2006. Findings – Results indicate that FTCs exert stronger positive effects on productivity than on wages and (accordingly) that the use of FTCs increases firms’ profitability. Originality/value – This paper is one of the first to examine the FTC-productivity-wage nexus while addressing three important methodological issues related to the state dependency of the three explained variables, to firm time-invariant heterogeneity, and to the endogeneity of FTCs.


2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (7) ◽  
pp. 957-982 ◽  
Author(s):  
Woon Leong Lin ◽  
Jo Ann Ho ◽  
Siew Imm Ng ◽  
Chin Lee

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate financial performance (CFP), as the findings on the relationship have been inconsistent and have led to calls to further examine this relationship. However, instead of investigating the connection between CSR and CFP, academics have stated that a contingency viewpoint must be used for uncovering the context and conditions which catalyse the relationship between both constructs. Design/methodology/approach This study acquired the CSR data from 100 companies listed in Fortune’s most admired US companies between 2007 and 2016. These data were used to investigate the CSR–CFP link with the help of the dynamic panel data system, which is the generalised method of moments (GMM) estimator. Findings The results indicate that CSR and CFP have a neutral relationship which characterises the effect between CFP and CSR. However, this study found that financial slack positively affected the CSR–CFP relationship, implying that companies will only benefit from CSR activities if they have excess financial resources. Originality/value This study offers a very distinctive perspective regarding the CSR–CFP link according to the financial slack perspective.


2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 777-795
Author(s):  
Shawkat Hammoudeh ◽  
Seong-Min Yoon ◽  
Ali Kutan

Purpose Motivated by the news media and a lack of comprehensive research on the USA, the purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between changes in road fatalities and gasoline prices, per capita disposable personal income, alcohol consumption per adult, blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limits and gender. Design/methodology/approach This study employs both static and dynamic panel data models, making use of annual data over the 2000–2013 period collected from the 50 states of the USA and the consistent system GMM estimators of the parameters, to estimate the impact of these variables on fatalities per 100,000 persons and per 100,000 vehicles. Findings The results highlight the importance of gasoline prices in determining the level of road fatalities, underscoring that a 10 percent decrease in gasoline prices leads to a 248 increase in the total number of road fatalities, but with many more injuries. Increases in the female-to-total driver ratio have a greater significant positive impact on road fatalities where a 10 percent increase in this ratio increases road fatalities by 1,008 deaths. Increases in registered vehicles per capita also increase the number of fatalities. Other variables such as alcohol consumption per adult and BAC limits are not as important. Policy implications are also provided. Research limitations/implications The results of this study highlight the importance of gasoline prices in determining the number of road fatalities. This factor can be an effective policy measure by which policymakers can offset increases in fatalities due to further drastic declines in future gasoline prices. But the effects of the gasoline prices in determining the number of road fatalities are not as strong as the media would lead us to believe. The media ignores the impact of other factors on fatalities, which results in an overestimation of the impact of gasoline prices. Originality/value This study uses the panel data of 50 US states and the dynamic panel data model. In addition to gasoline price effects on the road fatalities, this study also considers other factors such as gender, gasoline taxes, per capita disposable personal income, per capita alcohol consumption, BAC limits and number of registered vehicles.


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