Authors : Noman Arshed, Rukhsana Kalim and Awais Anwar
Abstract: Crime is an outcome of illegal market returns overweighing legal market returns. This study proposes few deterrence expenditures which indicate direct or indirect government intervention to crime control. This study uses random effect panel Poisson regression approach to determine the effects of proposed deterrence expenditures on crime for districts of Punjab, Pakistan. The results indicate that enrollment in schools, employment, education expenditures and health expenditures significantly deter crime. While between the proposed direct interventions, the police expenditures have appeared to be the most effective deterrent. The efficiency estimates using frontier analysis, shows that the government efforts are 63% efficient in minimizing crime rate. It can be further improved by aligning objectives of all the districts and efficiently utilizing national resources.
Noman Arshed, Rukhsana Kalim and Awais Anwar, 2019. Can Government Expenditures Deter Crime? An Empirical Analysis Across the District of Punjab. Research Journal of Applied Sciences, 14: 388-395.