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Re-examining the impact of dropping out on criminal and labor outcomes in early adulthood

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  • Bjerk, David

Abstract

This paper shows that while high school dropouts fare far worse on average than otherwise similar high school completers in early adulthood outcomes such as success in the labor market and future criminal activity, there are important differences within this group of dropouts. Notably, those who feel “pulled” out of school (i.e., they say they dropped out of school to work or take care of family) do similarly with respect to labor market and criminal outcomes in their early twenties to individuals with similar pre-dropout characteristics who complete high school. It is only those who feel they are more “pushed” out of school (i.e., they say they drop out for other reasons including expulsion, poor grades, moving, and not liking school) who do substantially worse than otherwise similar high school completers. These results suggest that any detrimental impacts from dropping out of school arise primarily when the drop out does not have a plan for how to use his time after dropping out.

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  • Bjerk, David, 2012. "Re-examining the impact of dropping out on criminal and labor outcomes in early adulthood," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 110-122.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:31:y:2012:i:1:p:110-122
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2011.09.003
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    Cited by:

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    2. Hazal Colak Oz & Çiçek Güven & Gonzalo Nápoles, 2023. "School dropout prediction and feature importance exploration in Malawi using household panel data: machine learning approach," Journal of Computational Social Science, Springer, vol. 6(1), pages 245-287, April.
    3. Abrahamsen, Signe A. & Ginja, Rita & Riise, Julie, 2021. "School Health Programs: Education, Health, and Welfare Dependency of Young Adults," IZA Discussion Papers 14546, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Susan Yoon & Fei Pei & Juan Lorenzo Benavides & Alexa Ploss & Jessica Logan & Sherry Hamby, 2022. "The Long-Term Effects of Early Childhood Resilience Profiles on School Outcomes among Children in the Child Welfare System," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(10), pages 1-14, May.
    5. Jessica F. Harding & Susan Zief & Amy Farb & Amy Margolis, "undated". "Supporting Expectant and Parenting Teens: New Evidence to Inform Future Programming and Research," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 3d66277097644a3888c59d335, Mathematica Policy Research.
    6. S. Mahuteau & K. Mavromaras, 2014. "An analysis of the impact of socio-economic disadvantage and school quality on the probability of school dropout," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(4), pages 389-411, August.
    7. Anderson, D. Mark & Lochner, Lance, 2016. "Introduction to the Special Issue on Education and Crime," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 211-213.
    8. Mughal, Abdul Waheed & Aldridge, Jo & Monaghan, Mark, 2019. "Perspectives of dropped-out children on their dropping out from public secondary schools in rural Pakistan," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 52-61.
    9. Marcotte, Dave E., 2013. "High school dropout and teen childbearing," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 258-268.
    10. Basu Sukanya & Insler Michael, 2017. "Education Outcomes of Children of Asian Intermarriages: Does Gender of the Immigrant Parent Matter?," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 17(1), pages 1-21, February.
    11. Hoque, Nurzamal & Mahanta, Ratul & Sarkar, Dipanwita, 2022. "Does free education reduce early school dropouts? Evidence from a legislative reform in India," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 657-665.
    12. Jessica Harding & Jean Knab & Susan Zief & Kevin Kelly & Diana McCallum, "undated". "A Systematic Review of Programs to Promote Aspects of Teen Parents’ Self-Sufficiency: Supporting Educational Outcomes and Healthy Birth Spacing," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 05e656f1b4a54dae83654795b, Mathematica Policy Research.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Dropouts; Crime; Wages; Earnings; Idleness;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • J3 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs

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