Question: In March 1994, California instituted a "three strikes and you're out" policy that requires a mandatory 25-years-to-life sentence for any criminal convicted of a third felony offense, regardless of the degree of that offense. You have been hired to evaluate the effectiveness of this policy, measured by subsequent reductions in crime. Describe your evaluation, including the following:

a. The difficulties of identifying the causal impact of the policy

b. How your evaluation would overcome these difficulties

c. The econometric models you would estimate

d. The types of data you would use (assuming that you can get all of these data)

e. How you would interpret the results of your analysis