The External Effects of Black Male Incarceration on Black Females

Publication Date

6-3-2008

Grant Type

Early Career Research Award

Description

This paper examines how the increase in the incarceration of Black men and the sex ratio imbalance it induces shape the behavior of young Black women. Combining data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the Current Population Survey to match male incarceration rates with individual observations over two decades, the author shows that Black male incarceration lowers the odds of Black non-marital teenage fertility while increasing young Black women's school attainment and early employment. These results can account for the sharp bridging of the racial gap over the 1990s for a range of socio-economic outcomes among females.

Grant Product

The External Effects of Black Male Incarceration on Black Females
Journal of Labor Economics 2011 29(1): 1-35

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