Date of Submission
Spring 2019
Academic Programs and Concentrations
Mathematics
Project Advisor 1
Stefan Méndez-Diez
Abstract/Artist's Statement
This paper explores the methodology and application of a relatively new econometric technique called The Synthetic Control Method, building off the work of Abadie, Diamond and Hainmueller (2010). Most commonly used for comparative case studies in policy analysis, the method essentially constructs a `synthetic' control unit: an optimally weighted linear combination of the outcome data for the untreated units, allowing us to compare a region with treatment to a picture of itself, had it not been treated. This paper aims to estimate the effects of a large-scale prison reform implemented across the Dominican Republic in 2003, and in particular to evaluate the policy's effectiveness in curbing violent crime.
Open Access Agreement
On-Campus only
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Thompson, Sofia, "Econometric Methods for Comparative Case Studies: Lessons From the Dominican Prison Reform" (2019). Senior Projects Spring 2019. 30.
https://digitalcommons.bard.edu/senproj_s2019/30
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