Replication data for: Does Public Assistance Reduce Recidivism?

Under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996, individuals convicted of drug-related felonies were permanently banned from receiving welfare and food stamps. Since then, over 30 states have opted out of the federal ban. In this paper, I estimate the impact of public assistance eligibility on recidivism by exploiting both the adoption of the federal ban and subsequent passage of state laws that lifted the ban. Using administrative prison records on five million offenders and a triple-differences research design, I find that public assistance eligibility for drug offenders reduces one-year recidivism rates by 10 percent.

1996年《个人责任与工作机会协调法案》（Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, PRWORA）规定，因涉毒重罪被定罪的个人将被永久剥夺领取福利与食品券的资格。此后，已有超过30个州选择退出联邦此项禁令。本研究借助联邦禁令的实施以及后续各州解除该禁令的立法举措，评估公共救助资格对再犯率的影响。研究使用覆盖500万名罪犯的行政监狱记录，并采用三重差分（triple-differences）研究设计，结果表明：毒品罪犯获得公共救助资格后，其一年期再犯率可降低10%。