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Topics in Public Policy: Crime, Labor, and Race

Paper Session

Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025 10:15 AM - 12:15 PM (PST)

Hilton San Francisco Union Square, Union Square 6
Hosted By: National Economic Association
  • Chair: Kenneth Whaley, University of South Florida

Growing up in Gang Territory: Estimating the Influence of Organized Criminal Activity on Young Americans

Jesse Bruhn
,
Brown University

Abstract

How does gang activity influence young children and adolescents? To study
this question empirically, we unite large-scale administrative student micro-data from a
large urban school district with maps of gang-controlled territory produced by the local
police department over multiple years. To validate the maps, we recruited a sample of
current and former gang members, as well as community residents familiar with gang
activity in this city (N=30 total) and conducted interviews that included a novel field
survey which interactively displayed gang territory for review. Respondents reported a
high degree of accuracy: 87 percent of the gang territories they reviewed were marked
as correct. Thus the combined data allows us, for the first time, to directly measure
childhood exposure to residential neighborhood gang activity.

Does Investing in Schools Reduce Violent Crime?

Monique E. Davis
,
University of Minnesota
Kenneth Whaley
,
University of South Florida
Jamein P. Cunningham
,
University of Texas-Austin

Abstract

We ask if better funded public schools reduce violent crime exposure for Black
males in the United States. Acknowledging that local governments may tradeoff funding
for schools and public safety, we explore violent crime reduction caused by increased
state funding for schools during the finance reform era. Cash infusions generated by
state finance reforms target disadvantaged communities, and our findings show that
counties with higher shares of low-income school districts saw relative homicide rates
decrease for young Black males post reform. Reform-induced school spending
contributed to the decline of Black male homicides from 1970-2010 through similar
effects for Black
men of all ages.

The Effects of Criminal Legal System Contact on Financing Successful Aging

Robynn Cox
,
University of California-Riverside

Abstract

TBD

Does Coaching Diversity Impact Team Success in Women's College Basketball

Johnny Ducking
,
University of Mississippi

Abstract

TBD

Restricting Unemployment Insurance and Crime: Evidence from the American Rescue Plan

Alexander Henke
,
Howard University
Linchi Hsu
,
Howard University

Abstract

In 2020 and 2021, the US federal government dramatically increased weekly unemployment insurance (UI) payments, expanded the eligibility of UI recipients, and extended the amount of time recipients could receive UI payments. These programs were ultimately extended to September 2021 by the American Rescue Plan Act. In June and July of 2021, many states opted out of all or part of these programs. This acts as a natural experiment in reducing UI compensation and restricting UI eligibility, which together we call “restricting UI.” We leverage this withdrawal to analyze the effect of restricting UI on crime and, separately, intimate partner violence. We use a difference-in-differences framework comparing states which restricted UI to states which never or had not yet restricted UI. Using daily nationwide data on crime reports, we find that restricting UI generosity by opting out of the FPUC program increased overall crime and intimate partner violence.
JEL Classifications
  • K4 - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior
  • I3 - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty