School and Drugs: Closing the Gap - Evidence from a Randomized Trial in the US

Núria Rodriguez-Planas

No 6770, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We present evidence on how The Quantum Opportunity Program (QOP hereafter) worked in the US. While the program was regarded as successful in the short-term, in the long-run its educational results were modest and its effects on risky behaviors detrimental. Exploiting control group's self-reported drug use while in school, we evaluate whether the program worked best among those with high-predicted risk of problem behavior. We find QOP to be extremely successful among high-risk youths as it managed to curb their risky behaviors during high-school and, by doing so, it persistently improved high-school graduation by 20 percent and college enrollment by 28 percent. In contrast, QOP was unsuccessful among youths in the bottom-half of the risk distribution as it increased their engagement in risky behaviors while in high-school. Negative peer effects are possibly an explanation behind these results. Finally, negative peer effects also seem to explain the longer-run detrimental effects of QOP on risky behaviors.

Keywords: mentoring programs; peer effects; risky behaviors; educational programs; randomized trials (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C93 I21 I22 I28 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 41 pages
Date: 2012-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published - substantially revised verion published in: Journal of Behavior & Economics, 2017, 139, 166-181

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