Working Paper: NBER ID: w10777
Authors: Jeffrey R. Kling; Jens Ludwig; Lawrence F. Katz
Abstract: The Moving to Opportunity (MTO) demonstration assigned housing vouchers via random lottery to public housing residents in five cities. We use the exogenous variation in residential locations generated by MTO to estimate neighborhood effects on youth crime and delinquency. The offer to relocate to lower-poverty areas reduces arrests among female youth for violent and property crimes, relative to a control group. For males the offer to relocate reduces arrests for violent crime, at least in the short run, but increases problem behaviors and property crime arrests. The gender difference in treatment effects seems to reflect differences in how male and female youths from disadvantaged backgrounds adapt and respond to similar new neighborhood environments.
Keywords: Neighborhood Effects; Youth Crime; Housing Voucher Experiment
JEL Codes: H43; I18; J23
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Gender-specific responses to neighborhood environments (R23) | differences in youth crime outcomes (K14) |
| Self-reported problem behaviors among experimental group males (C92) | increase in property crime arrests (K42) |
| Moving to lower-poverty neighborhoods (R23) | reduces arrests for violent and property crimes among female youth (J13) |
| Moving to lower-poverty neighborhoods (R23) | initial reduction in violent crime arrests among male youth (K42) |
| Moving to lower-poverty neighborhoods (R23) | increase in property crime arrests among male youth several years post-randomization (K42) |