AEA Papers and Proceedings
ISSN 2574-0768 (Print) | ISSN 2574-0776 (Online)
Using Shifts in Deployment and Operations to Test for Racial Bias in Police Stops
AEA Papers and Proceedings
vol. 109,
May 2019
(pp. 148–51)
Abstract
We rely on a policy experiment in the New York City Police Department (NYPD) to address the well-known problems of omitted variable bias and infra-marginality in traditional outcomes tests of racial bias in police stops. The NYPD designated specific areas as impact zones and deployed extra officers to these areas and encouraged them to conduct more intensive stop, question, and frisk activity. We find that the NYPD are more likely to frisk black and Hispanic suspects after an area becomes an impact zone compared to other areas of the city.Citation
MacDonald, John M., and Jeffrey Fagan. 2019. "Using Shifts in Deployment and Operations to Test for Racial Bias in Police Stops." AEA Papers and Proceedings, 109: 148–51. DOI: 10.1257/pandp.20191027Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- J15 Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
- J45 Public Sector Labor Markets
- K42 Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law