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...
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2017
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| 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 |
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okr-10986-264702021-06-08T14:42:45Z Can Public Works Programs Reduce Youth Crime? : Evidence from Papua New Guinea's Urban Youth Employment Project Ivaschenko, Oleksiy Naidoo, Darian Newhouse, David Sultan, Sonya YOUTH EMPLOYMENT PUBLIC WORK PROGRAMS YOUTH CRIME JOB TRAINING PUBLIC WORKS LABOR MARKET 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. 2017-04-26T21:53:27Z 2017-04-26T21:53:27Z 2017-04 Working Paper 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 English en_US Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8032 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper East Asia and Pacific Papua New Guinea |
| repository_type |
Digital Repository |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
Digital Repositories |
| building |
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
| collection |
World Bank |
| language |
English en_US |
| topic |
YOUTH EMPLOYMENT PUBLIC WORK PROGRAMS YOUTH CRIME JOB TRAINING PUBLIC WORKS LABOR MARKET |
| spellingShingle |
YOUTH EMPLOYMENT PUBLIC WORK PROGRAMS YOUTH CRIME JOB TRAINING PUBLIC WORKS LABOR MARKET Ivaschenko, Oleksiy Naidoo, Darian Newhouse, David Sultan, Sonya Can Public Works Programs Reduce Youth Crime? : Evidence from Papua New Guinea's Urban Youth Employment Project |
| geographic_facet |
East Asia and Pacific Papua New Guinea |
| relation |
Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8032 |
| description |
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. |
| format |
Working Paper |
| author |
Ivaschenko, Oleksiy Naidoo, Darian Newhouse, David Sultan, Sonya |
| author_facet |
Ivaschenko, Oleksiy Naidoo, Darian Newhouse, David Sultan, Sonya |
| author_sort |
Ivaschenko, Oleksiy |
| title |
Can Public Works Programs Reduce Youth Crime? : Evidence from Papua New Guinea's Urban Youth Employment Project |
| title_short |
Can Public Works Programs Reduce Youth Crime? : Evidence from Papua New Guinea's Urban Youth Employment Project |
| title_full |
Can Public Works Programs Reduce Youth Crime? : Evidence from Papua New Guinea's Urban Youth Employment Project |
| title_fullStr |
Can Public Works Programs Reduce Youth Crime? : Evidence from Papua New Guinea's Urban Youth Employment Project |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Can Public Works Programs Reduce Youth Crime? : Evidence from Papua New Guinea's Urban Youth Employment Project |
| title_sort |
can public works programs reduce youth crime? : evidence from papua new guinea's urban youth employment project |
| publisher |
World Bank, Washington, DC |
| publishDate |
2017 |
| url |
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 |
| _version_ |
1764462063892037632 |