Research
Research Interests
I am interested in applying microeconometric techniques to the study of risky behavior of youth, crime, education, health and labor market outcomes, as well as policy evaluation.
Job Market Paper
Ward, S, J Williams, and J C van Ours (2015), “Bad behavior: Delinquency, arrest and early school leaving”, CEPR Discussion Paper No. 10755. (Under Review) [Download]
In this paper we investigate the effects of delinquency and arrest on school leaving using information on males from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997. We use a multivariate mixed proportional hazard framework in order to account for common unobserved confounders and reverse causality in these relationships. Our key finding is that delinquency as well as arrest leads to early school leaving. Further investigation reveals that the effect of delinquency is largely driven by income generating crimes, and the effect of both income generating crime and arrest are greater when onset occurs at younger ages. These findings are consistent with a criminal capital accumulation mechanism. On the basis of our sample, we show that taking into account the proportion of young men affected by delinquency and arrest, that the overall reduction in education due to delinquency is at least as large as the reduction due to arrest. This highlights the need for crime prevention efforts to extend beyond youth who come into contact with the justice system.
Journal Article
Ward, S, and J Williams (2015), "Does juvenile delinquency reduce educational attainment?", Journal of Empirical Legal Studies: Forthcoming. [Download]
This paper investigates the effect of delinquency in youth on subsequent educational attainment. To do so, we focus on delinquent acts committed by age 16 and examine their impact on two measures of educational attainment: high school graduation and college graduation. Using information on males from the extremely rich National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, we find plausible evidence that delinquency by age 16 reduces the likelihood of graduating from high school and college. This effect is driven by early initiators, those who offend intensely, and by those whose delinquent activities involve income generating acts. Importantly, the impact of delinquency on education is not confined to those who have interaction with the criminal justice system, or gang members. Further analysis suggests that a channel through which delinquency impacts on education is expected returns to crime, as reflected by subjective beliefs about the probability of arrest for a property crime.
Other Publications
Ward, S, J Williams, and J C van Ours (2015), "Bad Behaviour and Early School Leaving", CEPR Vox. [Go to article]
Early school leaving and criminal behaviour are important social problems. This column argues that delinquency and arrests both lead to early school leaving. The findings show that the overall reduction in education due to delinquency is at least as large as the reduction due to arrest. Crime prevention efforts thus need to extend beyond youth who come into contact with the justice system.