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Conditional Cash Transfers and the Effect on Recent Murder Rates in Brazil and Mexico

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Justin Earl Lance
Justin Earl Lance*
Affiliation:
Presbyterian College. jelance@presby.edu
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Abstract

This article examines whether conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs have had a significant effect on reducing murder rates in Mexico and Brazil, using time-series municipal-level data on murders in both countries. The findings, over the period 2005–8, show that the greater the proportion of beneficiaries enrolled in a CCT program in each municipality, the lower the number of murders. There are, however, important differences between the two countries, with a much larger effect in Brazil than in Mexico. This holds even when controlling for GDP and levels of development.

Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Politics and Society , Volume 56 , Issue 1 , Spring 2014 , pp. 55 - 72
Copyright
Copyright © University of Miami 2014

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