A Path-Dependent Agent-Based Microsimulation of Crime and Violence Reduction Policy Portfolios in Bolivia: Survey Calibration, Adaptive Emulator Ensembles, Global Sensitivity, Tempered MCMC, and Multi-Objective Policy Analysis

Ricardo Alonzo Fernández-Salguero

arXiv 2 Oct 2026 · Econometrics

arXiv:2610.03895 · PDF · Extracted main text

Abstract

This study develops a survey-calibrated, path-dependent agent-based microsimulation for evaluating crime and violence reduction policies in Bolivia. A synthetic population is constructed from the 2025 Household Survey and the fourth-quarter 2025 Continuous Employment Survey using official expansion weights and cross-survey donor matching. The model combines heterogeneous agents, place-based risk, criminal adaptation, institutional capacity, community organization, and multiple policy channels. Uncertainty is propagated through adaptive Gaussian-process and tree-ensemble emulators, global sensitivity analysis, tempered ensemble MCMC, and predictive meta-calibration. Simulated portfolios include focused policing, community control, Guardabosques-type incentives, social prevention, environmental interventions, justice reforms, investigation, rehabilitation, and financial-network disruption. Results are interpreted as structural policy scenarios rather than causal forecasts, with explicit attention to displacement, distributional effects, implementation capacity, and multi-objective trade-offs.

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