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Public Safety for Women: Is Regulation of Social Drinking Spaces Effective?

Author

Listed:
  • Saloni Khurana

    (Indian Institute of Foreign Trade)

  • Kanika Mahajan

    (Department of Economics, Ashoka University)

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of reduced availability of hard liquor in bars on sexual crimes against women outside their homes. We construct a district level panel dataset on reported crimes and use an identification strategy that exploits a natural experiment that led to a complete crackdown on bars selling hard liquor in a state of India. Using a difference-in-difference strategy, we show that placing restrictions on alcohol sale through closure of on-premise drinking outlets that serve hard liquor reduces reported incidence of sexual assault and harassment against women by 25% but has no effect on reported rapes. We conduct placebo tests and show that the result is not driven by existing pre-trends. The result is also robust to an alternative estimation strategy using a synthetic control construction. These results have policy implications for regulating social drinking spaces due to their impact on women's public safety.

Suggested Citation

  • Saloni Khurana & Kanika Mahajan, 2019. "Public Safety for Women: Is Regulation of Social Drinking Spaces Effective?," Working Papers 11, Ashoka University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:ash:wpaper:11
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