Working Paper: NBER ID: w18145
Authors: Costas Meghir; Mårten Palme; Marieke Schnabel
Abstract: We study the intergenerational effect of education policy on crime. We use Swedish administrative data that links outcomes across generations with crime records and we show that the comprehensive school reform, gradually implemented between 1949 and 1962, reduced conviction rates both for the generation directly affected by the reform and for their sons. The reduction in conviction rates occurred across many types of crime. Key mediators for this reduction in the child generation are an increase in education and a decline in crime amongst their fathers.
Keywords: education policy; crime; intergenerational effects
JEL Codes: I24; J1; J18; J24; J62
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Swedish comprehensive school reform (I28) | reduction in conviction rates for fathers (J12) |
| Swedish comprehensive school reform (I28) | reduction in conviction rates for sons (J12) |
| increased educational attainment among fathers (I24) | reduction in crime participation among sons (J12) |
| decline in criminal behavior among fathers (J12) | reduction in crime participation among sons (J12) |
| Swedish comprehensive school reform (I28) | increase in fathers' education (I24) |
| Swedish comprehensive school reform (I28) | decline in criminal behavior among fathers (J12) |