RT Article
T1 Incarceration and Labor Market Conditions of the Underclass in the United States: an Empirical Investigation
JF European journal on criminal policy and research
VO 26
IS 4
SP 529
OP 546
A1 Cantekin, Kerem
A2 Elgin, Ceyhun
LA English
YR 2020
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1745593039
AB In this paper using both annual time-series data at the federal level as well as annual state-level (balanced) panel data from 1980 to 2017 we investigate the relationship between several labor market variables and the federal and state level incarceration rates in the United States. We find a significant empirical association between the incarceration rate, 10th-percentile real-wage rate, and the unemployment rate, as well as the level of inequality. Specifically, the time-series analysis reveals a significant negative correlation between the incarceration rate and the 10th-percentile wage rate. Moreover, in all time-series regressions, the unemployment rate and the 40%-to-10% wage ratios are both positively correlated with the incarceration rate. In the state-level analysis, panel data regressions indicate that the unemployment rate, income inequality, and unemployment duration are positively associated with incarceration whereas the 10th-percentile wage is negatively correlated with the latter.
K1 Incarceration
K1 Labor market
K1 Real wage
K1 Unemployment
K1 Inequality
K1 US economy
DO 10.1007/s10610-019-09412-8