The Long-Term Economic Impact of Juvenile Criminal Activity

When the juvenile penal system is supposed to be focused on rehabilitation, how does committing crimes and being caught as juveniles affect their future economic success? In 2012, the FBI Arrest Statistics reports an estimated 1,319,700 minors were arrested. Since so many youths interact with the criminal system, it is vital for the strength of the workforce and for the quality of life of the minors to ensure that the system is rehabilitative. Using ordinary least squares regressions, I examine data collected from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth\u27s 1997 cohort, and examine how interactions with the formal juvenile correctional system impacts a youth\u27s future income, taken in 2013. I find being caught for delinquent behavior, and subsequently being arrested, does significantly impact future income but only when education is not controlled for. Finally, I discuss the results and what they say about the juvenile criminal system, and suggest future policy

Income Mobility in the United States

This study makes use of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) in order to examine the relationship between the standard of living one experiences as a youth and their income as an adult. Human capital theory, as well as previous empirical research in economics suggests that as standard of living as a youth increases, future income as an adult should increase as well. The 1979 cohort as well as the 1997 cohort of the NLSY were studied in order to provide insight into how the relationship in question has changed over time. I hypothesize that as standard of living as a youth increases, so too will income as an adult. Furthermore I hypothesize that the level of income mobility will be greater for the 1979 cohort than the 1997 cohort. An extended treatment of this topic was awarded University Honors and may be found in the Department of Economics Honors Projects collection

Second Generation Immigrants: The Effect of Parental Nativity Status on Earnings

Since a significant portion of second generation immigrants only have one parent that was born abroad and one native parent, this portion of the second generation population may have the advantage of having human capital influences from both the U.S and from abroad. Comparing the economic success of this population to that of second generation immigrants who have two parents that were born abroad and therefore less of a culturally balanced environment might give insight into what family structure and therefore what kind of environment is most conducive to the economic success of second generation immigrants. By comparing the effect of having two immigrant parents with the effect of having an immigrant father and native mother, and vice versa, this research will evaluate the effect of parental nativity status of second generation immigrants on their earnings. An extended treatment of this topic was awarded University Honors and may be found in the Department of Economics Honors Projects collection