Data and code for: Fighting Crime in Lawless Areas: Evidence from Slums in Rio de Janeiro

Principal Investigator(s):  View help for Principal Investigator(s) Christophe Bellégo, CREST, ENSAE and Institut Polytechnique de Paris, 5 avenue Le Chatelier, 91120 Palaiseau, France; Joeffrey Drouard, Université de Rennes 1, CNRS, CREM - UMR6211, 7 Place Hoche, 35000 Rennes

Version:  View help for Version V1

Name File Type Size Last Modified
  code 02/23/2023 11:19:AM
  data 02/23/2023 11:19:AM
  results 02/23/2023 04:28:PM
ReadMe.pdf application/pdf 315.6 KB 02/23/2023 11:59:PM

Project Citation: 

Bellégo, Christophe, and Drouard, Joeffrey. Data and code for: Fighting Crime in Lawless Areas: Evidence from Slums in Rio de Janeiro. Nashville, TN: American Economic Association [publisher], 2024. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2024-01-19. https://doi.org/10.3886/E182721V1

Project Description

Summary:  View help for Summary We use Rio de Janeiro’s slum pacification program initiated in 2008 to analyze the effect of policies fighting crime in lawless areas. We correct the bias from the unobserved rise in crime reporting via the use of a proxy variable and bounded variation assumptions. We find that the program reduced the murder and robbery rates, but strongly increased the assault and threat rates. We explain these results by providing evidence that increased enforcement weakened the security service gangs provide on their turf, and may incentivize criminals to switch from serious to less-serious crimes.



Scope of Project

Subject Terms:  View help for Subject Terms Crime; law enforcement; Drug gangs; Proxy variable; reporting rate; Brazil
JEL Classification:  View help for JEL Classification
      D74 Conflict; Conflict Resolution; Alliances; Revolutions
      H76 State and Local Government: Other Expenditure Categories
      K42 Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
Geographic Coverage:  View help for Geographic Coverage Brazil
Time Period(s):  View help for Time Period(s) 1/2007 – 6/2016
Collection Date(s):  View help for Collection Date(s) 6/2018 – 7/2021
Universe:  View help for Universe Crime data in Rio de Janeiro
Data Type(s):  View help for Data Type(s) administrative records data; census/enumeration data; geographic information system (GIS) data

Methodology

Data Source:  View help for Data Source
Instituto de Seguranca Pública [Institute that is in charge of recording crime data in the State of Rio de Janeiro]
Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística [Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics]
Portal de dados abertos da Prefeitura do Rio de Janeiro [Open data portal of the municipality of Rio de Janeiro]
Ministério da Saúde - DATASUS/SIM [Brazilian Health Ministry]
NASA Shuttle Radar Topography Mission



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V1 [2024-01-19]

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