The Economics of Crime: Lessons For and From Latin America.

The Economics of Crime: Lessons for and from Latin America, edited by Rafael Di Tella, Sebastian Edwards, and Ernesto Schargrodsky, is available from the University of Chicago Press for $110.00.

Crime rates in Latin America are among the highest in the world, and in several countries they have steadily risen over the past two decades. Despite this situation, there has been little systematic study of crime in the region or of the effectiveness of policies designed to tackle it. The Economics of Crime addresses a variety of topics, including the impact of mandatory arrest laws, education in prisons, and the relationship between poverty and crime. It also presents research from outside Latin America, illustrating the broad range of approaches that have been fruitful in studying crime in developed nations. The...