The economic roots of China's crimes

Thirty years of reform and opening up have resulted in rapid economic growth. But they have raised the crime rate, too. The number of crimes committed in 2008 was 4.88 million, almost 9 times of that in 1978. Why? Chen Yili, an associate professor of economics in Chongqing-based Southwest University of Political Science and Law , uses empirical research to answer the question.

Chen is an associate professor alright, but he is only 29 years old. He has a master's degree in law and is a doctorate in economics. His PhD thesis was on "Economics of Crime", a subject new to many Chinese but decades-old in the West. The subject views crime from the angle of economics and analyze it using "econometric" methods. The greatest proponent of economics of crime - in fact, the person who gave it shape - is Gary S. Becker. He won the Nobel Prize for Economic in 1992 for extending economic analyses to the wide field of human behavior, including crime.

Economics of crime see criminals and potential criminals as "rational economic beings" and crime as a rational choice, considering the costs and benefits. Chen says this viewpoint can help people analyze criminals and crimes in a more rational way. People tend to presuppose that criminals are basically bad elements and thus ignore that important social factors contribute to crimes. The fact is that a person commits a crime for some reason.