Neighborhood effects on crime for female and male youth: Evidence from a randomized housing voucher experiment
Abstract
The Moving to Opportunity (MTO) demonstration assigned housing vouchers via random lottery to public housing residents in five cities. We use the exogenous variation in residential locations generated by MTO to estimate neighborhood effects on youth crime and delinquency. The offer to relocate to lower-poverty areas reduces arrests among female youth for violent and property crimes, relative to a control group. For males the offer to relocate reduces arrests for violent crime, at least in the short run, but increases problem behaviors and property crime arrests. The gender difference in treatment effects seems to reflect differences in how male and female youths from disadvantaged backgrounds adapt and respond to similar new neighborhood environments.
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In Moving to Opportunity stratified analyses, girls in the treatment arm experienced a one-third relative reduction in risk for arrest for violent and property crime (p<0.05), while boys experienced a non-significant decrease in arrest for violent crime and a 33% relative increase in property crime (p<0.10).
“Stratified analyses found that while girls in the treatment arm experienced a one-third relative reduction in risk for arrest for violent and property crime (p<0.05), boys experienced a non-significant decrease in arrest for violent crime and a 33% relative increase in property crime (both of marginal significance, p<0.10).28”
From Community investment interventions as a means for decarceration: A scoping review (2022) · cites this paper as [28]
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References 29 · Cited by 311
- Authors
- Kling, J. R., Ludwig, J., & Katz, L. F.
- ORCID
- Ludwig, Jens
- Venue
- Quarterly Journal of Economics
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2005-02
- Volume
- 120
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 87-130
- ISSN
- 0033-5533 (ISSN-L)
- 1531-4650
- OpenAlex
- W2891580543
- Cited by
- 311
- References
- 29
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 17 · 2022: 27 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 18 · 2019: 23 · 2018: 28 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 17 · 2015: 14 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 15 · 2012: 23
- FWCI
- 24.29
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The Quarterly Journal of Economics (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Crime Patterns and Interventions
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis
- Keywords
- neighborhood effects, juvenile delinquency, Moving to Opportunity, housing vouchers, residential mobility, gender differences, violent crime, property crime, public housing, poverty, behavioral problems
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