Abstract: This paper discusses the effects of trade liberalization on criminal activities and the mechanism of those effects.Based on Chinese product-level tariff data,this paper constructs trade protection index to measures provincial trade liberalization;then empirically test the relationship between trade liberalization and crime rate,as well as potential mechanism of trade liberalization on crime rate,using Chinese provincial panel data from 2000-2011 with fixed effect model and instrumental variable method.The results show that:Since China's entry into WTO,trade liberalization significantly increases Chinese crime rate;regions with high trade liberalization level are with high crime rate.Trade liberalization increases criminal activities through high urbanization and inflow of internal population migration.Therefore, in the process of further openness of China,the adverse effects and additional social cost of trade liberalization should be emphasized;pay more attention to improve the quality of urbanization,eliminate the distortion of labor market and minimize the adverse effects of trade liberalization.

Key words: trade liberalization, population migration, crime rate