Research

Work in Progress

The Impact of Government Funding on Domestic Violence Shelters and Domestic Violence Incidents (Job Market Paper)

Abstract: Domestic violence (DV) shelters receive billions of dollars in government funding each year, yet no empirical evidence exists on how these funds affect shelter operations or community-level violence. I construct a novel panel dataset linking IRS Form 990 filings, government grant records, and county-level outcome data for all 48 DV shelters operating in Georgia from 2013 to 2023 --- the first longitudinal dataset of its kind. Using two-way fixed effects models that exploit within-shelter variation in government grant funding, I find that a one dollar increase in government grants raises shelter revenue by 92 cents and expenditure by 79 cents, with crowd-out of private donations concentrated among smaller shelters. Additional spending flows primarily into program services, with suggestive evidence of capacity expansion through staffing. I find no statistically significant effects on DV homicides or hospital discharges, consistent with limited statistical power for rare county-level outcomes. Suggestive evidence from child maltreatment records indicates that shelter funding may reduce substantiated reports of child abuse and neglect. Analysis of shelter utilization records suggests that funding affects the probability of providing wraparound services requiring variable cash outlays such as emergency financial assistance and civil legal aid. Together, these findings establish the first empirical picture of how government funding flows through DV shelters and the communities they serve.

Publications

1. Islam, T., Kearns, M., and Mitra, S. (2024). Patriarchy and Child Well-Being: Evidence from India. Journal of Economics, Race, and Policy, 7, 294–308.

2. Kearns, M., DiRienzo, C. (2023). Sexual Violence First Experienced in Childhood or Adolescence: The Effects on U.S. Female Education and Occupation. Forum for Social Economics, 1-16. DOI: 10.1080/07360932.2023.2275119

3. Lake, D., Flannery, K., Kearns, M (2021). A Cross-Disciplines and Cross-Sector Mixed-Methods Examination of Design Thinking Practices and Outcome. Innovative Higher Education, 46(3), 337-356. DOI: 10.1007/s10755-020-09539-1