This paper proposes a new identification strategy to estimate the causal impact of illicit drug markets on violence using a panel of Colombian municipalities covering the period 1994-2008. Using a UNODC survey of Colombian rural households involved in coca cultivation, we estimate the...

We model the war on drugs in source countries as a conflict over scarce inputs of successive levels of the production and trafficking chain. We explicitly model the vertical structure of the drug trade as being composed of several stages, and study how different policies aimed at different...

We investigate if there is any effect on crime following the installation of public surveillance cameras. To do so, we benefit from a quasi-experiment that took place in Medellin, Colombia with the installation of 587 cameras between 2013 and 2015. We highlight three main findings. First, there...

Spanish Abstract: Este artículo presenta una aproximación teórica a la relación causal entre el precio de los recursos naturales y las trampas de pobreza para el caso de un país productor de minerales. Partiendo de un modelo de generaciones traslapadas donde las decisiones de ahorro,...

Spanish Abstract: Las ciudades de Colombia mantienen índices altos de delito a pesar del aumento del gasto en defensa y seguridad. Este trabajo propone y analiza la provisión de información como una estrategia de bajo costo que puede ser efectiva para la disuasión del crimen. Para mostrar su...

This paper uses a natural experiment to identify the impact of a judicial system reform on police behavior. The study finds that, after a decrease in the severity of judicial punishment imposed on Colombian adolescents, arrest rates for adolescents in most misdemeanor crimes decreased due to a...

Spanish Abstract: En este artículo estimo el efecto causal de las condiciones de reclusión sobre la reincidencia explotando la entrada en operación de nuevos centros de reclusión en Colombia. Entre marzo de 2010 y enero de 2013 entraron en funcionamiento diez nuevos centros de reclusión...

Customs face a difficult tradeoff between, on one side, collecting tariff revenues and preventing smuggling, and on the other side, avoiding creating additional barriers to trade. They also tend to concentrate discretionary power in the hands of officials whose decisions can bear high costs for...

Spanish Abstract: Este documento estima el valor del producto interno bruto, PIB, de la producción de cocaína y, en particular, el valor agregado por la base de coca y por el clorhidrato de cocaína. Este valor del PIB de la cocaína es muy sensible a los precios y cantidades de insumos y de...

Well-intended policies often have negative unintended consequences if they fail to foresee the different ways in which individuals may respond to the new set of incentives. When widespread and persistent, these may lead to a net reduction of social welfare. Focusing on the case of anti-drug...