Data and Code for Shaping the Habits of Teen Drivers

This repository provides the Stata code and the non-confidential data sources for the article "Shaping the Habits of Teen Drivers" published in the American Economic Journal: Economic Policy. We provide the abstract of the paper below:<br><br>We show that a targeted law can modify teens’ risky behavior. We examine the effects of an Australian intervention banning first-year drivers from driving late at night with multiple peers, which had accounted for one-fifth of their traffic fatalities. Using data on individual drivers linked to crash outcomes, we find the reform more than halves targeted crashes, casualties and deaths. There are large positive spillovers through lower crashes earlier in the evening and beyond the first year, suggesting broad and persistent declines in high-risk driving. Overall, the targeted intervention delivers gains comparable to harsher restrictions that delay teen driving.<br>