Volume 16, Number 4 (Fall) 1981
Dickinson, Katherine P. 1981. "Supported Work for Ex-Addicts: An Exploration of Endogenous Tastes." Journal of Human Resources 16(4):551-599.
The expected impact of Supported Work on former drug addicts' employment, crime, and drug use are derived from two models: the human capital model and a model of endogenous tastes. Empirically, Supported Work is found to increase the earnings of at least some ex-addicts, primarily due to increases in hours worked rather than wage rates. The program also reduced ex-addicts' crime, producing the greatest impact on the robbery and drug-related crimes and changing the relationship between crime and employment. The program did not affect ex-addicts' recidivism to drugs. The pattern of effects only partially supports the human capital model, and there is also some support for the model of endogenous tastes.
The author is an economist with SRI International.
* The author would like to acknowledge the contributions of several individuals.
Stephen Woodbury provided particularly helpful comments on an earlier draft of
this paper. Robinson Hollister, Rebecca Maynard, Valerie Leach, Irving Piliavin,
Jonathan Dickinson, Edward Budd, and James Rodgers made valuable suggestions on
earlier versions of the material presented in this paper. Stanley Masters
contributed encouragement and insight through this project. The discussion
concerning experimental results is based largely on the author's work during the
Supported Work evaluation and is reported in more detail in Dickinson with
Maynard [9]. The theoretical discussion of possible mechanisms affecting
ex-addicts' response to Supported Work was developed by the author in her
dissertation [Dickinson 8].
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