Adolescent drug use and the deterrent effect of school-imposed penalties

G.R. Waddell

Economics of Education Review, 2012, vol. 31, issue 6, 961-969

Abstract: Estimates of the effect of school-imposed penalties for drug use on a student's consumption of marijuana are biased if both are determined by unobservable school or individual attributes. Reverse causality is also a potential challenge to retrieving estimates of the causal relationship, as the severity of school sanctions may simply reflect the need for more-severe sanctions. Using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, I offer an instrumental-variables approach to retrieving an estimate of the causal response of marijuana use to sanctions and thereby demonstrate the efficacy of school-imposed penalties as a deterrent to adolescent drug use. This suggests that school sanctions may have important long-run benefits.

Keywords: Drug; Crime; Adolescent; Risky behavior; Expulsion (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I1 I2 K42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:31:y:2012:i:6:p:961-969

DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2012.07.002

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