Slaughterhouse Closures and Reduced Crime Rates: Evidence from Colombia

This paper examines the effect of slaughterhouse closures on crime rates in Colombian municipalities between 2005 and 2024. Using a quasi-experimental design that leverages exogenous variation from a 2007 sanitary reform, which led to the closure of over 400 slaughterhouses, I estimate the impact of the regional presence of slaughterhouses on interpersonal crime. The identification strategy relies on the staggered implementation of closures and Local Projection Difference-inDifferences (LP-DiD) models to compare changes in crime rates across treated and control municipalities. I find that municipalities where all slaughterhouses closed experienced sustained and significant reductions in assault and theft rates-the most prevalent forms of interpersonal crime. Additional analysis shows no evidence of major changes in property crime or unemployment among young men, supporting both green criminology and economic displacement theories as mechanisms linking slaughterhouses to crime.