Cumulative Payments Through the Earned Income Tax Credit Program in Childhood and Criminal Convictio

Sorry about the title, it was written for an academic journal. But really great news, the EITC program reduces the likelihood of criminal activity. A little too much simulation of actual EITC status, but the results are in line with similar studies using better data.

Tax Credit Program Payments in Childhood and Criminal Conviction in Adolescence

We evaluated the association between cumulative exposure to EITC credits during childhood and the risk of self-reported criminal conviction during adolescence using intergenerational data from the NLSY79 and CNLSY. By leveraging the longitudinal data and a common method for simulating EITC policy benefits based on marital status, number of dependents, year, and state of residence, we found that each $1000 of simulated cumulative EITC benefits was associated with an 11% decrease in risk of self-reported conviction of a crime during youth.

40 general child health indicators,19 and educational attainment later in life.18 Our findings are also consistent with research that measured the longitudinal association of other income supplements received during childhood with youth delinquency. For example, 1 study found that children in households that received casino profit cash transfers were 22% less likely to be arrested for a crime at age 16 or 17 years.41

26,42,43 We did not observe statistically significant differences by race and ethnicity. Exploratory findings of negative associations between EITC and youth fighting are consistent with previous research on EITC and fighting among youths, especially with regard to some variation in outcomes related to school fighting.44 In the present study, youth fighting outcomes were included in fewer survey rounds, so these results reinforce our findings of an association between EITC and youth violence but may not be generalizable on their own.

45-47 Families with less economic pressure tend to have lower parental stress and psychological distress, which are in turn associated with warmer and more supportive parenting practices.48,49 In addition, supplemented resources enable families to invest in better schooling or housing in better neighborhoods.9,48 Policies such as the EITC are important in the effort to narrow health inequities because low- and middle-earning families benefit more than high-earning families from income supplementation. In short, our findings underscore the wide-ranging benefits that family economic support policies can yield for children and youths, which can accumulate into their adult lives.20,45