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Human capital in the inner city

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  • Dionissi Aliprantis

    (Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland)

Abstract

Twenty-six percent of black males in the USA report seeing someone shot at before turning 12. This paper investigates how black young males alter their behavior when living in violent neighborhoods, using the nationally representative National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 to quantitatively characterize the “code of the street” from the sociology literature. Black and white young males are equally likely to engage in violent behavior, conditional on reported exposure to violence. Education and labor market outcomes are worse when reporting exposure, unconditionally and controlling for observables. Mediators documented in the ethnography are quantitatively important in the estimated structural model.

Suggested Citation

  • Dionissi Aliprantis, 2017. "Human capital in the inner city," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 53(3), pages 1125-1169, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:empeco:v:53:y:2017:i:3:d:10.1007_s00181-016-1160-y
    DOI: 10.1007/s00181-016-1160-y
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    Cited by:

    1. López Cruz, Iván G., 2019. "Policing, schooling and human capital accumulation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 572-597.
    2. Dionissi Aliprantis & Daniel R. Carroll, 2018. "Neighborhood dynamics and the distribution of opportunity," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 9(1), pages 247-303, March.
    3. Kırdar, Murat G. & López Cruz, Ivan & Türküm, Betül, 2022. "The effect of 3.6 million refugees on crime," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 194(C), pages 568-582.
    4. Hao Jin & Hewei Shen, 2020. "Foreign Asset Accumulation among Emerging Market Economies: a Case for Coordination," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 35, pages 54-73, January.
    5. Dionissi Aliprantis & Hal Martin, 2020. "Neighborhood Sorting Obscures Neighborhood Effects in the Opportunity Atlas," Working Papers 20-37, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
    6. Ivan G. Lopez Cruz, 2015. "Policing, Schooling and Human Capital Accumulation," CAEPR Working Papers 2015-024, Center for Applied Economics and Policy Research, Department of Economics, Indiana University Bloomington.
    7. Dionissi Aliprantis & Francisca G.-C. Richter, 2020. "Evidence of Neighborhood Effects from Moving to Opportunity: Lates of Neighborhood Quality," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 102(4), pages 633-647, October.
    8. Uche Eseosa Ekhator-Mobayode & Seyedsoroosh Azizi, 2019. "Does the Presence of Neighborhood Gang Affect Youth Criminal Behavior?," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 39(3), pages 2102-2109.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Code of the street; Interpersonal violence; Human capital; Race; Propensity score matching; Dynamic selection control;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • O18 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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