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The non-criminal consequences of gang membership: impacts on education and employment in the life-course

Description

Research on the consequences of gang membership is limited mainly to the study of crime and victimization. This gives the narrow impression that the effects of gang membership do not cascade into other life domains. This dissertation conceptualized gang membership as a snare in the life-course that disrupts progression in…

Research on the consequences of gang membership is limited mainly to the study of crime and victimization. This gives the narrow impression that the effects of gang membership do not cascade into other life domains. This dissertation conceptualized gang membership as a snare in the life-course that disrupts progression in conventional life domains. National Longitudinal Survey of Youth Cohort of 1997 (NLSY97) data were used to examine the effects of adolescent gang membership on the nature and patterns of educational attainment and employment over a 12-year period in the life-course. Variants of propensity score weighting were used to assess the effects of gang joining on a range of outcomes pertaining to educational attainment and employment. The key findings in this dissertation include: (1) selection adjustments partially or fully confounded the effects of gang joining; despite this (2) gang joiners had 70 percent the odds of earning a high school diploma and 42 percent the odds of earning a 4-year college degree than matched individuals who avoided gangs; (3) at the 11-year mark, the effect of gang joining on educational attainment exceeded one-half year; (4) gang joiners made up for proximate deficits in high school graduation and college matriculation, but gaps in 4-year college degree and overall educational attainment gained throughout the study; (5) gang joiners were less likely to be employed and more likely to not participate in the labor force, and these differences accelerated toward the end of the study; (6) gang joiners spent an additional one-third of a year jobless relative to their matched counterparts; and (7) the cumulative effect of gang joining on annual income exceeded $14,000, which was explained by the patterning of joblessness rather than the quality of jobs. The theoretical and policy implications of these findings, as well as directions for future research, are addressed in the concluding chapter of this dissertation.

ContributorsPyrooz, David (Author) / Decker, Scott H. (Thesis advisor) / Pratt, Travis C. (Committee member) / Sweeten, Gary (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)

Created2012

Essays in education and macroeconomics

Description

This dissertation consists of three essays on education and macroeconomics. The first chapter analyzes whether public education financing systems can account for large differences among developed countries in earnings inequality and intergenerational earnings persistence. I first document facts about public education in the U.S. and Norway, which provide an interesting…

This dissertation consists of three essays on education and macroeconomics. The first chapter analyzes whether public education financing systems can account for large differences among developed countries in earnings inequality and intergenerational earnings persistence. I first document facts about public education in the U.S. and Norway, which provide an interesting case study because they have very different earnings distributions and public education systems. An overlapping generations model is calibrated to match U.S. data, and tax and public education spending functions are estimated for each country. The benchmark exercise finds that taxes and public education spending account for about 15% of differences in earnings inequality and 10% of differences in intergenerational earnings persistence between the U.S. and Norway. Differences in private education spending and early childhood education investments are also shown to be quantitatively important. The second chapter develops a life-cycle model to study increases in college completion and average ability of college students born from 1900 to 1972. The model is disciplined with new historical data on real college costs from printed government surveys. I find that increases in college completion for 1900 to 1950 cohorts are due primarily to changes in college costs, which generate large endogenous increases in college enrollment. Additionally, I find strong evidence that post-1950 cohorts under-predicted large increases in the college earnings premium. Modifying the model to restrict perfect foresight of the education premia generates a slowdown in college completion consistent with empirical evidence for post-1950 cohorts. Lastly, I find that increased sorting of students by ability can be accounted for by increasingly precise ability signals over time. The third chapter assesses how structural transformation is affected by sectoral differences in labor-augmenting technological progress, capital intensity, and capital-labor substitutability. CES production functions are estimated for agriculture, manufacturing, and services on post-war U.S. data. I find that sectoral differences in labor-augmenting technological progress are the dominant force behind changes in sectoral labor and relative prices. Therefore, Cobb-Douglas production functions with labor-augmenting technological change capture the main technological forces behind post-war U.S. structural transformation.

ContributorsHerrington, Christopher (Author) / Prescott, Edward C. (Thesis advisor) / Ventura, Gustavo (Thesis advisor) / Herrendorf, Berthold (Committee member) / Schoellman, Todd (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)

Created2013

Male education and son preference in India

Description

The study of son preference in India has been the focus of research for a few decades. The desire for sons leads to unfavorable consequences for daughters such as unequal access to resources, abortion, and female infanticide. Work on men's education and son preference is relatively scarce and this dissertation…

The study of son preference in India has been the focus of research for a few decades. The desire for sons leads to unfavorable consequences for daughters such as unequal access to resources, abortion, and female infanticide. Work on men's education and son preference is relatively scarce and this dissertation contributes to existing literature by exploring this relationship from a life course perspective. I have argued that education changes men's attitudes towards son preference by encouraging them to re-evaluate traditional gender roles and that this relationship is mediated by wealth. I use the National Family and Health Survey-III to examine fertility intentions and behaviors as measures of son preference. I have found support for some of my hypotheses. The findings from three studies walk through the different phases of reproduction for the Indian man. They show that son preference manifests itself at the beginning when there are no children, is strongly present after the birth of children, and then shows itself again at the end when the man wishes to stop childbearing. Being educated leads to the preference of sons being weaker and this is perhaps due to traditional gender roles being challenged. Wealth may mediate the relationship between men's education and son preference at the beginning, but does not act as a mediator once children are born.

ContributorsSabharwal, Rebha (Author) / Hayford, Sarah R. (Thesis advisor) / Agadjanian, Victor (Committee member) / Yabiku, Scott T (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)

Created2013

Increasing Access to College Going: Automatic Acceptances

Description

Educational attainment is important for economic and personal well-being. While policy makers continue efforts to increase access to higher education, a national outcomes have yet to improve. Higher education application and attendance is complex and heavily influenced by predetermined factors. Social capital and a thorough barriers analysis begin to unpack…

Educational attainment is important for economic and personal well-being. While policy makers continue efforts to increase access to higher education, a national outcomes have yet to improve. Higher education application and attendance is complex and heavily influenced by predetermined factors. Social capital and a thorough barriers analysis begin to unpack the context and issues around high school graduation and college going, specifically for minority, low income, and first-generation students. An analysis of higher education outcomes nationwide and within Arizona, specifically in the Phoenix Union High School District (highly representative of low income, first generation, and minority students) reveals that current trajectories are not enough to significantly improve educational attainment. Some notable programs exist that have implemented student, school, and scholarship centered interventions, in addition to conditional acceptances. This paper will create a simulation of a new intervention based on past efforts and their outcomes, ‘Automatic Acceptances,’ within the state of Arizona starting in the 2017-2018 school year until the 2030-2031 school year. Overall, given the increase in educational attainment as a result of the simulation, the ‘Automatic Acceptances’ intervention is validated.

ContributorsMarathe, Mukta Abhijit (Author) / Burns, Bridget (Thesis director) / Kappes, Janelle (Committee member) / Whitman, Kyle (Committee member) / Wenrick, Lukas (Committee member) / Hugh Downs School of Human Communication (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)

Created2021-05

Impacts of SES on Educational Attainment in Maryvale

Description

In the United States, the importance of acquiring higher education has steadily increased with almost two-thirds of the population attending some college or university (U.S. Census Bureau). Across different socioeconomic groups, the accessibility of higher education is vastly different. Factors such as low income, immigration status, and familiarity with national…

In the United States, the importance of acquiring higher education has steadily increased with almost two-thirds of the population attending some college or university (U.S. Census Bureau). Across different socioeconomic groups, the accessibility of higher education is vastly different. Factors such as low income, immigration status, and familiarity with national policies and institutions pose significant obstacles, especially for low-income communities of color. As the standard of skills needed for a productive career heightens, research needs to target specific marginalized communities that may disproportionately face barriers to entry into the pursuit of higher education. In this study, I will focus efforts on Maryvale, Arizona to assess the impact of socioeconomic status (SES) on educational attainment levels. 20% of Maryvale’s population falls below the federal poverty line, a greater proportion than the rest of Arizona. While income and poverty levels contribute as obstacles to the process of development, they are compounded by factors such as limited English-speaking ability and a lack of health insurance within Maryvale’s population. This study uses data from the U.S. Census Bureau and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to show how low socioeconomic status has a negative relationship with higher educational attainment in historically underserved communities like Maryvale.

ContributorsRaman, Nithya (Author) / Datta, Manjira (Thesis director) / Lopez, Mara (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Watts College of Public Service & Community Solut (Contributor)

Created2023-05

Pathways to Second Opportunities: A Training to Increase Support for Formerly Incarcerated Individuals in the University Setting

Description

Obtaining a college degree can be a critical turning point in anyone’s life. At ASU, value is placed on the inclusion and success of students from all backgrounds. However, a population that is often forgotten about is students who have been incarcerated. Students who have a history of incarceration may…

Obtaining a college degree can be a critical turning point in anyone’s life. At ASU, value is placed on the inclusion and success of students from all backgrounds. However, a population that is often forgotten about is students who have been incarcerated. Students who have a history of incarceration may face unique challenges to completing their education. Proposed here is a training, called Pathways to Second Opportunities, that shares knowledge and resources with faculty and staff to help facilitate success of these students.

ContributorsMcKenzie, Genevieve Beathe (Author) / Wright, Kevin (Thesis director) / Telep, Cody (Committee member) / School of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)

Created2020-05