Wheeling into School and Out of Crime: Evidence from Linking Driving Licenses to Minimum Academic Requirements

26 Pages Posted: 14 Nov 2016

See all articles by Rashmi Barua

Rashmi Barua

Singapore Management University - Department of Economics

Marian Vidal-Fernandez

IZA - Institute for the Study of Labor; The University of Sydney - School of Economics

Abstract

Since the late 1980s, several U.S. states have set minimum academic requirements for high school students to apply for and retain their driving licenses. These laws popularly known as "No Pass No Drive" (NPND), encourage teenagers with a preference for driving to stay in school beyond the minimum dropout age. Using Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrest data, we exploit state, time and cohort variation to show that having an NPND law in place is associated with a significant decrease in arrests due to violent, drug-related and property crime among males between 16 to 18 years of age. We argue that our findings are driven by an increase in education rather than incapacitation and that NPND laws are a relatively low cost policy that generates positive externalities beyond and in addition to the minimum dropout age.

Keywords: No Pass No Drive laws, juvenile crime, education

JEL Classification: K14, J24, J18

Suggested Citation

Barua, Rashmi and Vidal-Fernandez, Marian and Vidal-Fernandez, Marian, Wheeling into School and Out of Crime: Evidence from Linking Driving Licenses to Minimum Academic Requirements. IZA Discussion Paper No. 10346, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2868312 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2868312

Rashmi Barua (Contact Author)

Singapore Management University - Department of Economics ( email )

90 Stamford Road
178903
Singapore

Marian Vidal-Fernandez

The University of Sydney - School of Economics ( email )

Rm 370 Merewether (H04)
The University of Sydney
Sydney, NSW 2006 2008
Australia

IZA - Institute for the Study of Labor ( email )

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

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