Can Public Works Programs Reduce Youth Crime? : Evidence from Papua New Guinea's Urban Youth Employment Project
Crime rates in Papua New Guinea's capital city of Port Moresby are among the highest in the world. Few youth work, and good jobs are scarce. In 2013, the National Capital District Commission partnered with the World Bank to implement the Urban...
Main Authors: | , , , |
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Format: | Working Paper |
Language: | English en_US |
Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2017
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/417571492540309698/Can-public-works-programs-reduce-youth-crime-evidence-from-Papua-New-Guineas-urban-youth-employment-project http://hdl.handle.net/10986/26470 |
Summary: | Crime rates in Papua New Guinea's
capital city of Port Moresby are among the highest in the
world. Few youth work, and good jobs are scarce. In 2013,
the National Capital District Commission partnered with the
World Bank to implement the Urban Youth Employment Project.
The project offers out-of-school and out-of-work youth two
months of public works employment or, for academically
qualified candidates, six months of classroom and on-the-job
training. This paper presents difference-in-difference
estimates of project impacts on participants' social
and criminal behavior, 12 to 18 months after completion. The
control group consists of observably similar youth living in
areas not served by the program. Project participants became
less likely to hang out with friends at night, have a best
friend involved in crime, and have friends involved in
fights or robberies. The program also increased subsequent
employment rates, and significantly reduced aggressive
behavior and gratuitous property damage. However, there is
little robust evidence that the program reduced
participants' engagement in or exposure to crime. The
study concludes that the program had strong and healthy
effects on participants' peer group and behavior, but
more limited effects on the socioeconomic causes of crime. |
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