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KDI 경제정보센터

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  • 경제배움
  • Economic

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    and Education

    Center

최신자료
Beheading a Hydra: Kingpin Extradition, Homicides, Education Outcomes, and the End of Medellin‘s Pax Mafiosa
CATO
2024.08.12
What happens when you decapitate a violent and highly consolidated criminal organization? Are the consequences confined to only individuals involved in crime, or are there implications for society at large?

Studies of gang violence traditionally measure costs in terms of human lives and the strength of the rule of law. However, the consequences of gang violence likely have wide-ranging economic effects, especially on the development of young people. In Medell?n, the paths many students follow to school put them at risk when they cross invisible gang boundaries. Gang violence and crime may cause the quality of schools to drop due to teacher turnover in conflict areas, inflict psychological trauma on students exposed to violence, or alter students’ perceptions of the value of education.

Our research estimates the impact of Don Berna’s extradition on homicides in Medell?n. It uses these findings to estimate the impact of homicides on local students’ test scores. Our findings suggest that Don Berna’s extradition caused an average of 1.2 more homicides within 250 meters of a school each year from 2009 to 2013. Further analysis suggests that each additional homicide within 250 meters of a school led to a 1.1 percent decline in math test scores, equivalent to 0.05 standard deviations.

These effects were felt differently among students of various backgrounds. Homicides caused average test scores to fall the most for students from higher-income households and those at the upper end of the test score distribution.