The climato-economic context of crime and corruption in the regions of the Russian Federation

On June 4 Ekaterina Maklasova (Research Assistant, CSCR, HSE) took part in the "Culture matters" research seminar with the report "The climato-economic context of crime and corruption in the regions of the Russian Federation".

The report examined the question of whether the interaction of climate and economy can influence the prevalence of crime and corruption in the regions of the Russian Federation. Existing studies carried out from the perspective of a relatively new climato-economic theory, provide grounds for suggesting that the climate may be associated with crime and corruption in countries. However, this relationship depends on their economic well-being, which can compensate for the adverse effects of climate on the sociocultural and psychological characteristics of societies. Previously, similar studies were carried out using empirical data from various countries, which differ greatly in values, culture, and history, which affects the final results of the studies. In the study, the climato-economic theory was tested in the framework of one large state - the Russian Federation. The Russian Federation consists of 85 administrative units located in different climatic zones and differing from each other in the level of their economic well-being (i.e. the level of gross regional product (GRP) per capita). The study allowed us to obtain partially expected results in relation to crime in the regions. Thus, the relationship between climate and crime in the regions was positive, but the level of their economic well-being (GRP per capita) also turned out to be positively related to crime. Regarding corruption, unexpected results were obtained. If corruption was positively associated with the climate with the low economic well-being of the regions (as expected), then with its high rates, not a zero, but a negative relationship was found.