Relationship Between Smuggling of Goods and Economic, Human and Social Capital of Border Residents (Baneh City in Kurdistan Province)

Extended Abstract Introduction: In recent decades, developmental research, including economic, social, and ecological research, has focused on border areas and border effects. This interest in the regions along with the convergence frontiers of the countries has come from the notion that these special geographic regions may lead to economic compatibility and consistency in the convergence of countries. Is the livelihood of people in the border regions, areas that are considered as strategic spots and areas of cross-border exchanges, be affected by smuggling of goods? And if it is affected by this phenomenon, how will this effect? Therefore, the present study examines the effects of smuggling of goods on livelihoods and their lifestyles. The livelihood situation is measured in the form of three dimensions of human capital, social capital, and economic capital. Smuggling goods includes any secret acts or breaking of laws on the entry and exit of prohibited goods or the goods whose customs duties are not paid. Method: This research is descriptive-analytic and according to the nature of the subject, project goals and its variables, library and documentary methods were used to clarify the subject. At first, theoretical sources and research related to the subject were studied and examined and the theoretical framework was extracted; then, a researcher-made questionnaire was used for the operation of the concepts and variables of the research. Most of the items included in questionnaire were extracted from similar previous research and its reliability was measured through Cronbach’s alpha, which showed an alpha value of all indices higher than 0.70. The statistical population includes the frontier villages of Baneh, which are located at a maximum depth of 25 km. In sample selection, cluster sampling method was used at three levels of 5, 15 and 25 km distances that 380 households were selected as a statistical sample. Data analysis was done using SPSS statistical software. For descriptive level, tables, charts and official statistics were used. At the level of explanation, independent t-test, chi-square and Spearman correlation coefficient were used. Fig1: Map of the position of the studied villages and its distance from the borderline Findings: The results of the study indicate a significant difference in the penetration rate of smuggling at different frontier levels (X2= 88/489, P <0.001). Spearman correlation coefficient was used to show the relationship between distance from the border and repetition of the smuggling operation, which is 0.464 indicating this relationship is inverse. In order to measure the difference between the amounts of economic, human, and social capital among the people whose livelihoods are dependent on smuggling and those who are not affiliated with this type of activity, the t-test of the two independent groups has been used and summary of these results is presented in the following table: Table 1: The difference in the types of economic, human, and social capital of people whose livelihoods are dependent on smuggling and the livelihoods of those who are not affiliated with smuggling. Statistical relationships    Standard deviation     Mean    Type of Livelihood    Type of Capital sig    T value    df                 0.0000    4.67    378    1.60    63.12    Dependent to Smuggling    Economic             1.38    11.47    Independent     0.000    -6.151    378    6.91    23.61    Dependent to Smuggling    Human             5.86    28.94    Independent     0.026    -1.86    378    3.17    19.98    Dependent to Smuggling    Social To investigate the Relationship of smuggling on the livelihoods of inhabitants of frontier regions, two questions have been formulated: 1) How much do you think you will be economically in difficulty if the borders are closed? 2) In your opinion, what has changed in the life of people in your location due to smuggling? Table 2: The Impact of Closing Borders on People’s Economic Life Statistical relationships    Sum    Very much    Much    Medium    A little     Chi-square= 3.216    280    181    96    11    17    Frequency    Dependent on Smuggling     100    60.3    29.7    3.2    6.8    Percent     df= 3    100    57    7    13    6    Frequency    Independent     100    57    7    13    6    Percent     sig= 0.359    380    232    95    24    29    Frequency    Total Samples     100    61.1    25    6.3    7.6    Percent     Table 3: The change rate of living condition because of smuggling Statistical relationships    Sum    Very much    Much    Medium    A little     Chi-square= 0.619    280    181    96    11    17    Frequency    Dependent on Smuggling     100    60.3    29.7    3.2    6.8    Percent     df= 3    100    57    7    13    6    Frequency    Independent     100    57    7    13    6    Percent     sig= 0.892    380    232    95    24    29    Frequency    Total Samples     100    61.1    25    6.3    7.6    Percent     Discussion: The informal economy, at the head of which, smuggling goods is more likely to result from structural conditions and environmental conditions in the frontier regions; that is, in these areas, for reasons such as economic turmoil, lack of appropriate developmental ground, lack of appropriate planning for these areas, and the discriminatory view of the authorities and their marginal position relative to the central regions; inhabitants of these areas tend to move toward border trade and smuggling. Of course, some types of informal economies, such as Kolbary, that its popular among the lower classes, cannot be regarded as breaking laws that have harmful and dangerous consequences for the national economy, but these types need should to be organized. However, as these breaking the laws down around the economy, and the economy plays a significant role in the quality and livelihood of the people, thus, these peoples, depending on the potential and the constraints that appear on their way, tend to move towards this type or the same kind of informal economies. In this study, it was found that the influence of smuggling in different border regions is a function of distance from the border, and there is a high degree of correlation between the distance from the border and the repetition of smuggling (r = 0.464; p <0.001). In the absence of employment opportunities, inhabitants of border areas, consider smuggling as an alternative way to deal with livelihood, and it can be inferred from comments that more than 87% of people believe that border closure will have a negative impact on their economic situation, or more than 70% of people emphasize the improvement of the economic situation of their locals due to the prevalence of smuggling. But what is important in this research is the impact of smuggling on the types of livelihood capital, such as economic, human, and social capital. The findings indicate that the two groups of households whose livelihoods are largely dependent on smuggling and those whose are independent significantly differe in terms of the mentioned capital. In fact, the smuggling or Kolbari as an alternative has promoted the level of household’s livelihood so that they are dependent on smuggling, especially the economic capital. Although it is implicitly pointed in this paper that influential people and those indirectly engaged in these affairs or those that have a degree of supervisory role are the ones who gain a large part of  the profits of various informal businesses, such as smuggling, or those that have a degree of supervisory role. We mentioned that the level of capital was different between the two groups, but we specifically pointed that this seems to be due to a sort of sense of competition among the families involved in smuggling to earn more income and profit; as a result, the role of economic capital is more intense and it has affected other assets, such as trust and social capital. Ethical considerations Authors Contribution All of three authors were involved in writing this article. Financial Resources In order to publish the article, no direct or indirect financial support was received from any organization. Conflicts of interest According to the authors, there is no conflict of interest in this article. Adherence to the principles of research ethics The authors have observed all the ethical points of the research in this article, including informed consent and not harming the participants.