Is It Time to Let go of the Past? Effect of Clean Slate Regulation on Employment and Earnings

Kabir Dasgupta (), Keshar Ghimire and Alexander Plum

No 2021-06, Working Papers from Auckland University of Technology, Department of Economics

Abstract: We focus on New Zealand’s clean slate legislation to analyze whether automatic concealment of criminal records improves ex-offenders’ labor market outcomes. Based on the legislation’s eligibility requirements, we utilize detailed court charges information to identify comparable groups of ex-convicts who are subsequently linked to a population-wide tax register that documents monthly employment information. We use a difference indifferences framework to compare clean slate-eligible individuals to former convicts who are approaching eligibility. Our analysis reveals that the clean slate scheme has no statistically relevant impact on employment propensity. However, we find a significant 2-2.5% increase in monthly wages during the post-implementation period.

Keywords: Clean Slate; Court Charges data; Monthly Tax Records; Conviction; Employment; Earnings; Difference-in-Differences; Tripledifference (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C21 J08 K14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-env
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