Post by Joaquin Zentner

🚨 New Publication Alert! I'm excited to share our new publication in the International Journal of Educational Development: "The Effect on Crime of Extending the School Day in Secondary Education: Evidence from the Dominican Republic." Can investments in education reduce crime? Using rigorous causal evidence from the Dominican Republic, our study examines whether extending the school day affects criminal behavior among young people. The findings add to a growing body of evidence showing that education policies can generate important social benefits beyond improvements in learning outcomes. This publication is part of a broader research agenda that our team has been developing over the past several years on the effects of extended school days. Together, we have studied their impacts on educational achievement, female labor force participation, teenage pregnancy, and now crime, highlighting how education policies can influence development through multiple channels. I am deeply grateful to my coauthors, Santiago Garganta, Maria Florencia Pinto, and Arnoldo Lopez Marmolejo, for an outstanding collaboration, and to Oscar Valencia for fostering an environment that encourages rigorous, policy-relevant research alongside our operational work at the Inter-American Development Bank. Read the article here: https://lnkd.in/ettQWyAz I hope these findings contribute to the design of more effective education and crime prevention policies across Latin America and the Caribbean. Diana Rodriguez Franco Tomás Bermúdez Alejandra Fleitas Nathalie T. Alvarado Steve Brito Miguel Baruzze PATRICIA REINOSO #Education #Development #PublicPolicy #Economics #Crime #EvidenceBasedPolicy #Research