Ban-the-Box Measures Help High-Crime Neighborhoods

Daniel Shoag and Stan Veuger

Journal of Law and Economics, 2021, vol. 64, issue 1, 85 - 105

Abstract: Many localities have in recent years regulated the use of questions about criminal history in hiring, or “banned the box.” We show that these regulations increased employment of residents in high-crime neighborhoods by up to 4 percent, consistent with the central objective of these measures. This effect can be seen in both aggregate employment patterns for high-crime neighborhoods and commuting patterns to workplace destinations with this type of ban. The increases are particularly large in the public sector and in lower-wage jobs. This is the first nationwide evidence that these policies do indeed increase employment opportunities in neighborhoods with many ex-offenders.

Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/711367 (application/pdf)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/711367 (text/html)
Access to the online full text or PDF requires a subscription.

Related works:
Working Paper: 'Ban the Box' measures help high-crime neighborhoods (2019)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ucp:jlawec:doi:10.1086/711367

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Journal of Law and Economics from University of Chicago Press
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Journals Division ().