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

43 Pages Posted: 16 Jan 2023

See all articles by Rashmi Barua

Rashmi Barua

Jawaharlal Nehru University

Ian Hoefer-Marti

University of New South Wales (UNSW)

Marian Vidal-Fernandez

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

Abstract

No Pass No Drive" (NPND) laws deny or revoke driver's licenses to minors if they drop out of school, are frequent truants, show behavioral problems, and/or have a lowacademic performance. Using Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrest data, we exploit state, time, and cohort variation to show that NPND laws are associated with a significant decline in total crime, DUI and property crime arrests among 16 to 18 year old men. Our event study and Goodman-Bacon decomposition results support the triple difference findings that NPND laws have inherent externality effects on crime and can reduce crime above and beyond compulsory attendance laws. To explore unreported in-school crimes, we use micro data from the Youth Risk Behaviour Survey (YRBS) and variation in NPND strictness. We find that NPND laws decrease in-school risky activities. However, they have unintended consequences when accompaniedwith strict academic or behavioral requirements.

Keywords: No Pass No Drive Laws, Juvenile Crime, Education, Time Use.

Suggested Citation

Barua, Rashmi and Hoefer-Marti, Ian and Vidal-Fernandez, Marian and Vidal-Fernandez, Marian, Wheeling into School and Out of Crime: Evidence from Linking Driving Licenses to Minimum Academic Requirements. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4325939 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4325939

Rashmi Barua

Jawaharlal Nehru University ( email )

Vasant Vihar
Jawaharlal Nehru University
New Delhi, DE 110067
India

Ian Hoefer-Marti

University of New South Wales (UNSW) ( email )

Sydney, 2052
Australia

Marian Vidal-Fernandez (Contact Author)

IZA - Institute for the Study of Labor ( email )

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

The University of Sydney - School of Economics ( email )

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

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