{"id":81,"date":"2025-05-23T14:28:59","date_gmt":"2025-05-23T18:28:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/people.bsu.edu\/econbriefs\/?p=81"},"modified":"2025-05-23T14:28:59","modified_gmt":"2025-05-23T18:28:59","slug":"the-price-of-peace-in-el-salvador-by-dr-cecil-bohanon-and-dr-john-horowitz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/people.bsu.edu\/econbriefs\/2025\/05\/23\/the-price-of-peace-in-el-salvador-by-dr-cecil-bohanon-and-dr-john-horowitz\/","title":{"rendered":"The Price of Peace in El Salvador \u2013 by Dr. Cecil Bohanon and Dr. John Horowitz"},"content":{"rendered":"

Originally written on 7\/25\/2023<\/em><\/p>\n

Economists are fond of saying there are no solutions to social problems, only trade-offs. Often these trade-offs cannot be known precisely in advance and are inherently \u201ctragic.\u201d\u00a0 Since March 2022, the government of El Salvador has incarcerated 68,000 citizens, or over 1% of the nation’s population. The news images shows rows of young men sitting on hard floors, lined up like sardines, heads down and shaved, hands cuffed behind their backs, wearing only gym trunks. The human rights group <\/span>Cristosal reports that the “practice of torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment (is) widely inflicted on thousands of detainees under the regimen<\/span><\/a>.” Even the El Salvadoran government reports that over 130 detainees have died in jail since the mass arrests began. Nevertheless, over 90% of the El Salvadoran public approves of the government led by Nayib Bukele, who calls himself the <\/span>\u201dworld\u2019s coolest dictator.\u201d<\/span><\/a>\u00a0 What gives?\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The background to the story is that for decades the ordinary people of El Salvador have been terrorized by members of rival gangs. The MS-13, 18<\/span>th<\/span> Street and other gangs have ruled and ruthlessly extorted from almost everyone in the country. The gangs forced small businesses and ordinary citizens to pay tribute or suffer violent consequences. Unlike drug cartels that make their profits from sales outside their home country, the El Salvadoran gangs thrived by shaking down their fellow citizens. <\/span>A 2016 study commissioned by the country\u2019s central bank estimated the economic cost was more than $4 billion a year, or roughly 16% of gross domestic product.<\/span><\/a> And violence was endemic. The homicide rate in El Salvador peaked in 2015 at 106 per 100,000. In comparison, the U.S. homicide rate, considered high by international standards, stood at 7<\/span>.8 per 100,000 in 2021.<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, since the mass arrests, <\/span> \u201cthe gangs (have) largely disappeared\u201d<\/span><\/a> as have the extortions and violence.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>El Salvador\u2019s homicide rate fell 92% to 7.8 per 100,000 in 2022.<\/span><\/a>\u00a0 Commerce has revived, new businesses are opening. Pizza delivery has resumed in the cities.\u00a0 Could the government have reduced gang violence to the same extent while better protecting civil liberties? Or would protecting civil liberties during the crackdown lead to continued or even increasing gang violence? We don\u2019t know and won\u2019t judge. The El Salvadoran people seem to believe this tragic trade-off, giving up civil liberties, at least for the short term, to live safely was worth it. We hope they can have both in the long run.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Originally written on 7\/25\/2023 Economists are fond of saying there are no solutions to social problems, only trade-offs. Often these trade-offs cannot be known precisely in advance and are inherently \u201ctragic.\u201d\u00a0 Since March 2022, the government of El Salvador has incarcerated 68,000 citizens, or over 1% of the nation’s population. The news images shows rows […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[731,848,846,147,524,843,849,847,845,844,842],"class_list":["post-81","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-government","tag-central-bank","tag-civil-liberties","tag-commerce","tag-economics","tag-economist","tag-el-salvador","tag-gang-violence","tag-gangs","tag-homicide-rate","tag-nayib-bukele","tag-trade-offs"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Price of Peace in El Salvador \u2013 by Dr. Cecil Bohanon and Dr. John Horowitz - Econ Briefs<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/people.bsu.edu\/econbriefs\/2025\/05\/23\/the-price-of-peace-in-el-salvador-by-dr-cecil-bohanon-and-dr-john-horowitz\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Price of Peace in El Salvador \u2013 by Dr. Cecil Bohanon and Dr. John Horowitz - Econ Briefs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Originally written on 7\/25\/2023 Economists are fond of saying there are no solutions to social problems, only trade-offs. 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