Cody Tuttle, a student in our Ph.D. program, has a solo-authored article appearing in the most recent issue of the American Economic Journal: Economic Policy. The AEJ: EP is published by the American Economic Association and is considered one of the most competitive and widely respected journals in the field. Cody's paper studies the impact of the availability of food stamps on criminal behavior, focusing on the impact of a Florida law that gave a lifetime ban from food stamp receipt to drug felons who committed their crimes on or after August 23, 1996. By focusing on subsequent criminal recidivism of felons who committed their crimes just before and just after that date, Cody is able to establish that the food stamp ban significantly increased subsequent criminal behavior, especially for financially-related crimes. This suggests that low income is a significant factor causing criminal behavior and that transfer programs may reduce crime.

Click here to read this article on the American Economic Association website.