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Born on the wrong day? School entry age and juvenile crime

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  • Depew, Briggs
  • Eren, Ozkan

Abstract

Kindergarten entry age is known to impact schooling outcomes. Less is known, however, about the role of school starting age on economic outcomes outside of the classroom. In this paper we use administrative data from Louisiana to analyze the effect of school starting age on juvenile crime. We find that late school entry by one year reduces the incidence of juvenile crime for young black females, particularly in high crime areas. The mediating effects of late school entry for this subgroup appear to be driven by reductions in non-felony offenses. We propose age related differences in human capital accumulation as a potential explanation for our findings.

Suggested Citation

  • Depew, Briggs & Eren, Ozkan, 2016. "Born on the wrong day? School entry age and juvenile crime," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 73-90.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:juecon:v:96:y:2016:i:c:p:73-90
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jue.2016.09.002
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    Cited by:

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    2. Huang, Cheng & Zhang, Shiying & Zhao, Qingguo, 2020. "The early bird catches the worm? School entry cutoff and the timing of births," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    3. Grace Arnold & Briggs Depew, 2018. "School starting age and long‐run health in the United States," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(12), pages 1904-1920, December.
    4. Beatton, Tony & Kidd, Michael P. & Sandi, Matteo, 2020. "School indiscipline and crime," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 108475, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    5. Mauricio Villamizar‐Villegas & Freddy A. Pinzon‐Puerto & Maria Alejandra Ruiz‐Sanchez, 2022. "A comprehensive history of regression discontinuity designs: An empirical survey of the last 60 years," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(4), pages 1130-1178, September.
    6. Díaz, Juan & Grau, Nicolás & Reyes, Tatiana & Rivera, Jorge, 2021. "The impact of grade retention on juvenile crime," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    7. Krzysztof Karbownik & Umut Özek, 2019. "Setting a good example? Examining sibling spillovers in education achievement using a regression discontinuity design," CESifo Working Paper Series 7531, CESifo.
    8. Ma, Chao, 2020. "Per-customer quantity limit and price discrimination: Evidence from the U.S. residential mortgage market," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    9. Peña, Pablo A., 2020. "Relative age and investment in human capital," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    10. Yoosik Shin, 2023. "School starting age policy and students' risky health behaviors," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(11), pages 2446-2459, November.
    11. Li, Xu & Lou, Xuyan & Zhang, Junsen, 2022. "Does the early bird catch the worm? The effect of school starting age on educational attainment and labor market outcomes: Evidence from Chinese urban twins data," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 832-848.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Juvenile crime; School starting age; Human capital; Regression Discontinuity Design;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy

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