Public Works Programs and Crime : Evidence for El Salvador

Most evaluations of public works programs in developing countries study their effects on poverty reduction and other labor market outcomes (job creation, earnings, and participation). However, very few look at other collateral effects, such as the...

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Main Authors: Acosta, Pablo, Monsalve Montiel, Emma
Format: Working Paper
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/492921522171217391/Public-works-programs-and-crime-evidence-for-El-Salvador
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29564
id okr-10986-29564
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-295642021-06-08T14:42:45Z Public Works Programs and Crime : Evidence for El Salvador Acosta, Pablo Monsalve Montiel, Emma CRIME PUBLIC WORKS JOB CREATION LABOR POLICY LABOR MARKET VIOLENCE POVERTY REDUCTION EMPLOYMENT URBAN POVERTY Most evaluations of public works programs in developing countries study their effects on poverty reduction and other labor market outcomes (job creation, earnings, and participation). However, very few look at other collateral effects, such as the incidence of violence. Between 2009 and 2014, El Salvador implemented the Temporary Income Support Program, which aimed to guarantee a temporary minimum level of income to extremely poor urban families for six months, as well as provide beneficiaries with experience in social and productive activities at the municipal level. Making use of a panel data set at the municipal level for 2007 to 2014, with monthly data on different types of crime rates and social program benefits by municipalities, this paper assesses the effects of the program on crime rates in municipalities in El Salvador. There are several possible channels through which the Temporary Income Support Program can affect crime. Since the program is associated with cash transfers to beneficiaries, a reduction in economically motivated crimes is expected (income effect). But since the program enforces work requirements and community participation, this could generate a negative impact on crime, because the beneficiaries will have less time to commit crime and because of community deterrence effects. Overall, the paper finds a robust and significant negative impact of the Temporary Income Support Program on most types of crimes in the municipalities with the intervention. Moreover, the negative effects of the program on some types of crime rates hold several years after participation. Positive spillover effects for municipalities hold within a radius of 50 kilometers. 2018-03-30T19:21:10Z 2018-03-30T19:21:10Z 2018-03 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/492921522171217391/Public-works-programs-and-crime-evidence-for-El-Salvador http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29564 English Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8384 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 Latin America & Caribbean El Salvador
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic CRIME
PUBLIC WORKS
JOB CREATION
LABOR POLICY
LABOR MARKET
VIOLENCE
POVERTY REDUCTION
EMPLOYMENT
URBAN POVERTY
spellingShingle CRIME
PUBLIC WORKS
JOB CREATION
LABOR POLICY
LABOR MARKET
VIOLENCE
POVERTY REDUCTION
EMPLOYMENT
URBAN POVERTY
Acosta, Pablo
Monsalve Montiel, Emma
Public Works Programs and Crime : Evidence for El Salvador
geographic_facet Latin America & Caribbean
El Salvador
relation Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8384
description Most evaluations of public works programs in developing countries study their effects on poverty reduction and other labor market outcomes (job creation, earnings, and participation). However, very few look at other collateral effects, such as the incidence of violence. Between 2009 and 2014, El Salvador implemented the Temporary Income Support Program, which aimed to guarantee a temporary minimum level of income to extremely poor urban families for six months, as well as provide beneficiaries with experience in social and productive activities at the municipal level. Making use of a panel data set at the municipal level for 2007 to 2014, with monthly data on different types of crime rates and social program benefits by municipalities, this paper assesses the effects of the program on crime rates in municipalities in El Salvador. There are several possible channels through which the Temporary Income Support Program can affect crime. Since the program is associated with cash transfers to beneficiaries, a reduction in economically motivated crimes is expected (income effect). But since the program enforces work requirements and community participation, this could generate a negative impact on crime, because the beneficiaries will have less time to commit crime and because of community deterrence effects. Overall, the paper finds a robust and significant negative impact of the Temporary Income Support Program on most types of crimes in the municipalities with the intervention. Moreover, the negative effects of the program on some types of crime rates hold several years after participation. Positive spillover effects for municipalities hold within a radius of 50 kilometers.
format Working Paper
author Acosta, Pablo
Monsalve Montiel, Emma
author_facet Acosta, Pablo
Monsalve Montiel, Emma
author_sort Acosta, Pablo
title Public Works Programs and Crime : Evidence for El Salvador
title_short Public Works Programs and Crime : Evidence for El Salvador
title_full Public Works Programs and Crime : Evidence for El Salvador
title_fullStr Public Works Programs and Crime : Evidence for El Salvador
title_full_unstemmed Public Works Programs and Crime : Evidence for El Salvador
title_sort public works programs and crime : evidence for el salvador
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2018
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/492921522171217391/Public-works-programs-and-crime-evidence-for-El-Salvador
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29564
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