On the Effects of Enforcement on Illegal Markets

This paper studies the effects of enforcement on illegal behavior in the context of a large aerial spraying program designed to curb coca cultivation in Colombia. In 2006, the Colombian government pledged not to spray a 10 km band around the frontier with Ecuador due to diplomatic frictions arising from the possibly negative collateral effects of this policy on the Ecuadorian side of the border. This variation is used to estimate the effect of spraying on coca cultivation by regression discontinuity around the 10 km threshold and by conditional differences in differences. The results suggest that spraying one additional hectare reduces coca cultivation by 0.022 to 0.03 hectares; these effects are too small to make aerial spraying a cost-effective policy for reducing cocaine production in Colombia.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Mejía, Daniel, Restrepo, Pascual, Rozo, Sandra V.
Format:	Working Paper biblioteca
Language:	English en_US
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2015-09
Subjects:	CHEMICALS, POLICIES, CROP, COCA, MILITARY, PLANTATIONS, SPRAYING, TIME, MOLASSES, POLICE, RESEARCH WORKING PAPERS, VALIDITY, CRIMES, INTERDICTION, TERRORIST, CULTIVATION, BANK, GOVERNMENT, ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES, STRATEGIES, FINANCIAL RESOURCES, INFORMATION, SERVICES, FUMIGATION, ILLEGAL CROPS, CELL, PLANTING, EFFECTS, CRIME, SURVEYS, POLICY, WEEDS, MEASURES, ESTIMATORS, ATTACKS, CELLS, JUSTICE, TERRORIST ATTACK, WEIGHT, TERRORIST ATTACKS, CRIMINALS, EVIDENCE, PLANTS, THEORY, THEFTS, TECHNIQUES, SCIENTISTS, ESTIMATING, SECURITY, SPACE, PENALTIES, ILLEGAL ACTIVITY, GRASSES, METHODOLOGIES, TESTS, SEEDS, LABORATORIES, YIELDS, AERIAL SPRAYING, ESTIMATES, DOCUMENTS, ORGANIZATIONS, HERBICIDES, AGREEMENT, STRATEGY, CONFIDENCE, RESEARCH, METHODOLOGY, ARMED FORCES, ROBBERIES, FARMERS, GOVERNMENTS, CROPS, TESTING, ATTACK, GRANTS, POLICE OFFICERS,
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2015/09/24990286/effects-enforcement-illegal-markets-evidence-quasi-experiment-colombia https://hdl.handle.net/10986/22665
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