Homicide and social media: Global empirical evidence

Simplice Asongu, Joseph I. Uduji and Elda N. Okolo-Obasi

Technology in Society, 2019, vol. 59, issue C

Abstract: This study investigates the relationship between social media and homicide in a cross section of 148 countries for the year 2012. The empirical evidence is based on Ordinary Least Squares, Tobit and Quantile regressions. The findings from Ordinary Least Squares and Tobit regressions show a negative relationship between Facebook penetration and the homicide rate. The negative relationship is driven by the 75th quantile of the conditional distribution of the homicide rate. The negative nexus is also driven by upper middle income countries and “Europe and Central Asia”. Three main implications are apparent when the findings are compared and contrasted. First, established findings from OLS and Tobit regressions are driven by countries with above-median levels of homicide. Second, such above-median countries are largely associated with upper middle income countries and nations in “Europe and Central Asia”. Third, modelling the relationship between Facebook penetration and homicide at the conditional mean of homicide may be misleading unless it is contingent on initial levels of homicide and tailored differently across income levels and regions of the world.

Keywords: Homicide; Social media (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D74 D83 K42 O30 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Homicide and Social Media: Global Empirical Evidence (2019)
Working Paper: Homicide and Social Media: Global Empirical Evidence (2019)
Working Paper: Homicide and Social Media: Global Empirical Evidence (2019)
Working Paper: Homicide and Social Media: Global Empirical Evidence (2019)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:teinso:v:59:y:2019:i:c:s0160791x19300843

DOI: 10.1016/j.techsoc.2019.101188

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