A Note on Electronic Monitoring and some Challenges to its Implementation

Abstract

There are many instances in which policies that could raise overall welfare are not implemented. Economists emphasize one type of challenge arising from redistributive conflicts: sometimes a policy raises total welfare, but some groups affected negatively by the intervention are able to veto it. Coordination failures regarding the policy implementation or its financing may also be an impediment. Moreover, the optimality of some policies is hard to prove beyond doubt and, therefore, there could be genuine hesitation about its benefits. In this chapter, we analyze the interruption of a policy for which the above-mentioned reasons played a minor role. The policy in question is the use of electronic monitoring as an alternative to incarceration for pre-trial detention in the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Instead, this policy suffers from a different drawback: its benefits are difficult to observe, but its costs are very salient. And, although the cost-benefit analysis suggests a large positive net effect, benevolent policy-makers may find it hard to convince citizens, or the media, of the virtues of this policy.