Randomization Inference for Before-and-After Studies with Multiple Units: An Application to a Criminal Procedure Reform in Uruguay
Learning about the immediate causal effects of large-scale policy interventions poses a significant challenge for quasi-experimental methods that rely on long-term trends or parametric modeling assumptions. As an alternative, we develop a randomization inference framework for before-and-after studies with multiple units, designed specifically for short-term causal inference and allowing for general assignment mechanisms. The method provides finite-sample-valid statistical inferences without relying on parametric time series models or extrapolation. We demonstrate its utility by analyzing a major criminal justice reform in Uruguay that switched from an inquisitorial to an adversarial system in November 2017. Our method relies on the key assumption of no local time trends near the policy adoption time, which is supported by several falsification tests in our empirical study. We find a statistically significant short-term causal effect: an increase of approximately 25 daily police reports (an 8% rise) in the first week of the new justice system. Our randomization inference framework provides a robust and flexible methodology for evaluating policy adoptions in before-and-after studies with multiple units.