Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Panel: Addressing Crime in Developing Countries: A Focus on Evidence Based Policies

(Crime and Drugs)

The severity of issues concerning different aspects of crime varies across countries depending on their economic, cultural, and political institutions. This panel studies questions across such diverse settings in the developing world, where despite the alarming increase in violence, little is known about “what works” to address such violent incidents. The panel contains three research papers focusing on what can be learned for evidence based policy in Brazil, Colombia, and India. The three countries make interesting case studies because of their recently changing economic, social, and political environments. Each of the three papers on this panel addresses the specific field of crime through a focus on the intersection of social issues, economic implications, and policy responses.

The first paper uses a regression discontinuity design to study the effects of gun carrying prohibition on gun-related homicides in Brazil. The second paper uses a state fixed-effects panel data model to study the effects of women’s representation in police force on crimes against women in India. The third paper uses an instrumental variable design to study the effects of quality of education on violence and crime in Colombia.

The authors on this panel come from diverse institutional backgrounds, and use robust statistical and empirical methodologies to find evidence based answers to the questions discussed above. The findings discussed in this panel hold significant relevance in the age of increasing concerns about addressing violence in countries where maintenance of law and order needs to go hand in hand with increasing economic growth.