Intergenerational Effects of Incarceration
AEA Papers and Proceedings
vol. 108,
May 2018
(pp. 234-40)
Abstract
An often overlooked population in discussions of prison reform is the children of inmates. How a child is affected depends both on what incarceration does to their parent and what they learn from their parent's experience. To overcome endogeneity concerns, we exploit the random assignment of judges who differ in their propensity to send defendants to prison. Using longitudinal data for Norway, we find that imprisonment has no effect on fathers' recidivism but reduces their employment by 20 percentage points. We find no evidence that paternal incarceration affects a child's criminal activity or school performance.Citation
Bhuller, Manudeep, Gordon B. Dahl, Katrine V. Loken, and Magne Mogstad. 2018. "Intergenerational Effects of Incarceration." AEA Papers and Proceedings, 108: 234-40. DOI: 10.1257/pandp.20181005Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- J13 Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
- K42 Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law