Peer-Reviewed Publications
Gilbert, L., Parker, S. & Schechter, L. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on treatment for domestic violence injuries: evidence from medical claims. Review of Economics of the Household 22, 535–562 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11150-024-09696-8
Working Papers
Supported Work Leads to Lasting Labor Market Success Among TANF Recipients (with Tania Barham and Brian Cadena) [Current Draft] This paper examines the impact of providing TANF recipients with tailored employment support services, including access to a fully subsidized six-month internship with a local employer that may become a permanent job. We use rich administrative data on the universe of Colorado TANF recipients to form an observably similar comparison group and implement a stacked difference-in-differences design. We estimate the effect of program access on participants' employment, earnings, and TANF receipt. Participation increases formal-sector employment and earnings immediately when services start, and, compared to other similar programs, fadeout after services end is only moderate. Program enrollment increases employment by 9.6 percentage points (19 percent) and earnings by $563 per quarter (32 percent) in the year following program exit, likely through the formation of more stable employer-employee matches. Program participation also increases participants' receipt of TANF benefits during the program, but it has no substantial effect on TANF receipt after services end. Estimates using a subset of early enrollees show that earnings effects persist for at least two years after participants have stopped receiving services. Assuming similar persistence for the full sample, a simplified marginal value of public funds calculation indicates that the program is about as efficient as a non-distortionary cash transfer.
Prosecutorial Reform and Local Crime Rates (with Amanda Agan, Jennifer Doleac, Anna Harvey, and Anna Kyriazis) Under Review. [NBER WP#34364] Many communities across the United States have elected reform-minded prosecutors who seek to safely reduce the reach and burden of the criminal justice system. In this paper, we use variation in the timing of when these prosecutors took office across jurisdictions and implement a difference-in-differences design to empirically characterize their policy changes and estimate downstream effects on prison incarceration rates, local reported crime rates, and drug mortality rates. We find that after a reform prosecutor takes office there are consistent and often statistically significant decreases in charging and conviction rates for nonviolent misdemeanor offenses, particularly misdemeanor drug offenses, but not for violent or felony offenses. We find little to no downstream effects on prison incarceration rates and no effects on local reported crime rates or drug mortality rates. These findings suggest that the types of policies being implemented by reform prosecutors appear to be decreasing the footprint of the criminal justice system without adverse effects on public safety.
Work in Progress
Prosecution Research Initiative (with Amanda Agan, Anna Harvey, and Anna Kyriazis) An ongoing, multi-year project in partnership with district attorneys' offices using detailed administrative case data to study the effects of prosecutors' policies and decision making on recidivism, public safety, and racial disparities in the criminal justice system.
Family violence effects of social safety net incentives for child support cooperation (with Susan Parker and Katherine Richard)
Local Emergency Shelter Availability and Intimate Partner Homicides (with Kaitlyn Sims) New draft coming soon. Previously circulated as two separate working papers:
"Do shelters reduce domestic violence?" (Lauren Schechter)
"Seeking safe harbors: emergency domestic violence shelters and family violence" (Kaitlyn Sims)
Projects in the Field
An Impact Evaluation of a Recidivism Reduction Program at the Goodwill Excel Center (with William N. Evans and Patrick Turner) [AEA Registry]
An impact evaluation of an intensive, holistic reentry program for incarcerated women [AEA Registry]