Effects of Maternal Work Incentives on Teen Drug Arrests

Abstract

Purpose-This study exploits differences in the implementation of welfare reform across states and over time in the United States in the attempt to identify causal effects of welfare reform on youth arrests for drug-related crimes between 1990 and 2005, the period during which welfare reform unfolded.Methodology-Using monthly arrest data from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Reports, we estimate the effects of welfare reform implementation on drug-related arrests among 15-17 year olds in the United States between 1990 and 2005. We use a differencein-differences (DD) approach that exploits the implementation of welfare reform across states and over time to estimate effects for teens exposed to welfare reform.Findings-The findings, based on numerous different model specifications, suggest that welfare reform had no statistically significant effect on teen drug arrests. Most estimates were positive and suggestive of a small (3%) increase in arrests.Originality/Value-This study investigated the effects of a broad-based policy change that altered maternal employment, family income, and other family characteristics on youth drug arrests.

Effects of maternal work incentives on youth crime

“…We exclude arrests for drug abuse violations because a recent study comprehensively explored the effects of welfare reform on drug-related arrests using the same data source (Corman et al, 2017). 2 For each month/year, we imputed the total number of arrests in the U.S. as a whole by inflating the number of arrests in our data by the fraction of population covered in our data.…”

“…Corman et al (2017) exploited differences in the implementation of welfare reform in the U.S. across states and over time in the attempt to identify causal effects of welfare reform on youth arrests for drug-related crimes using arrest data from the FBI (the same data source used for the current study) merged with implementation dates of welfare reform in each state. The authors explored both short-run effects for teens exposed to welfare reform and longer-term effects for young adults who came of age when welfare reform was implemented, as well as the extent to which effects appeared to be stronger in states with more stringent work incentive policies, larger welfare caseload declines, and larger employment increases among low-educated unmarried mothers.…”

Effects of Maternal Work Incentives on Youth Crime

“…Vander Ven et al (2001), also using the NLSY-CS, found no associations between mothers' hours of work and delinquent behavior (including illegal activities and alcohol 6 abuse) of their teenage children, although the authors did not look at a subsample of low-income households. Corman et al (2017) exploited differences in the implementation of welfare reform in the U.S. across states and over time in the attempt to identify causal effects of welfare reform on youth arrests for drug-related crimes using arrest data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation merged with implementation dates of welfare reform in each state. The authors considered differential effects by gender, short-run effects for teens exposed to welfare reform as well as longer-term effects for young adults who came of age when welfare reform was implemented, and the extent to which effects appeared to be stronger in states with more stringent work incentive policies, larger welfare caseload declines, and larger employment increases among low-educated unmarried mothers.…”

“…We exclude arrests for drug abuse violations because a recent study comprehensively explored the effects of welfare reform on drug-related arrests (Corman et al 2017). 2 For each month/year, we imputed the total number of arrests in the U.S. as a whole by inflating the number of arrests in our data by the fraction of population covered in our data.…”

Intergenerational Effects of Welfare Reform: Adolescent Delinquent and Risky Behaviors

“…Two recent studies exploited differences in the full implementation of welfare reform across states and over time to identify causal effects on arrests for drug-related (Corman et al 2017a) and nondrug-related (Corman et al 2017b) crime among teens ages 15-17. The former found that welfare reform led to increases in drug-related arrests, with effects that appeared to be stronger for boys than for girls.…”