The impact of early life health investments on crime across generations

• In Event: New Research on Childhood Exposure to the Safety Net

Abstract

We investigate how investments in early-life health affect criminal justice involvement across two generations.  We identify the causal impact of better health by leveraging variation in treatments for infants born near the U.S. very low birth weight threshold (VLBW). Infants born just below the 1500g cutoff receive more intensive neonatal care than those born just above. Using linked administrative data from Texas, we examine how these investments  affect individuals  – and their parents and siblings – later life involvement with the criminal justice system. This research design provides new evidence on the ripple effects of early-life health interventions, highlighting how they can combat outcomes that impose significant costs on society.

Authors

• Briana Ballis, University of California, Merced
  Presenting Author

• Marianne E. Page, University of California, Davis
  Non-Presenting Co-Author