Working Paper: NBER ID: w24227
Authors: Manudeep Bhuller; Gordon B. Dahl; Katrine V. Løken; Magne Mogstad
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.
Keywords: Incarceration; Recidivism; Employment; Intergenerational Effects
JEL Codes: J24; J62; K42
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Incarceration (K14) | Fathers' Recidivism Rates (J12) |
| Incarceration (K14) | Fathers' Employment (J12) |
| Paternal Incarceration (J12) | Children's Criminal Activity (K42) |
| Paternal Incarceration (J12) | Children's Educational Performance (I21) |