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- Title
Fighting Crime in the Cradle: The Effects of Early Childhood Access to Nutritional Assistance.
- Authors
Barr, Andrew; Smith, Alexander A.
- Abstract
Using variation in the rollout of the Food Stamp Program (FSP), combined with criminal conviction data from North Carolina, we find that FSP availability in early childhood leads to large reductions in later criminal behavior. Each additional year of FSP availability in early childhood reduces the likelihood of a criminal conviction in young adulthood by 2.5 percent, with stronger effects for violent and felony convictions. These effects are substantially larger for nonwhites, consistent with their higher levels of FSP participation. The discounted social benefits from the FSP's later crime reduction exceed the costs of the program over this time period.
- Subjects
NORTH Carolina; FOOD stamps; CRIMINAL behavior; CRIMINAL convictions; YOUNG adults; CRIME
- Publication
Journal of Human Resources, 2023, Vol 58, Issue 1, p43
- ISSN
0022-166X
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.3368/jhr.58.3.0619-10276r2