This talk is part of the seminar series of the Centre for Latin American and Caribbean Studies.
Wed 25 November 2026, 5pm (UK time). The event will be in person and online. You can follow it online here: https://tinyurl.com/yzm5d7k2
This is the second in an experimental format for the seminar series, in which two Latin Americanists at the University of Manchester each present short papers of 30 minutes, each followed by a short Q&A.
Nico Trajtenberg's full title and abstract: "Do Opportunity Effects Travel? Replication of Quasi-Experimental Evidence in Two Latin American Cities". Quasi-experimental research has improved causal identification in criminology, but whether the resulting estimates travel across settings is rarely examined. In this paper we conduct a direct design replication of Díaz et al. (2026b), who exploit Montevideo’s itinerant street markets as temporary shocks to pedestrian concentration to estimate their effect on property crime. We apply the same treatment definition, identification strategy estimator, spatial unit, outcomes, event-time window, and placebo tests to Santiago de Chile, where an analogous system of itinerant markets generates comparable identifying variation. The two cities differ in urban scale, baseline crime, market organization, and policing, yet the Montevideo results carry over. Theft rises sharply within 100 meters of a market during operating hours, decays with distance, and vanishes outside market hours, while the placebo tests yield null effects in both cities. In contrast, robbery does not show any effects. The offense asymmetry documented for Montevideo is therefore not specific to that city and, instead, extends across two distinct Latin American urban settings. More generally, our study shows how direct design replications can be used to evaluate the transportability of quasi-experimental findings in criminology.
Olga Sanchez de Ribera's full title and abstract: "Process evaluation of a commuity-based domestic violence perpetrator programme in the Dominican Republic". Although Batterer Intervention Programs (BIPs) are a common approach for addressing intimate partner violence (IPV), their effectiveness remains questioned. Characteristics of BIPs’ implementation are recognised as consequential, but studies remain scarce and are mainly from high-income countries. To address this gap, a process evaluation was conducted to identify facilitators and barriers to BIP implementation in the Dominican Republic. Semi-structured interviews (N?=?17) were undertaken in person with managers and facilitators at BIP sites and practitioners in criminal justice and partner agencies. Our results found similar challenges to those reported in Western countries (e.g. ineffective integration of evidence-based principles, funding constraints, limited training, unmotivated participants, one-size-fits-all approach, weak multi-agency coordination) and others specific to the Dominican Republic (e.g. program expansion without resources, poor coordination across program sites, inappropriate referrals, lack of risk assessment tools, digital data issues).
Nicholas Trajtenberg Pareja is Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Manchester.
Olga Sanchez de Ribera is Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Manchester.
