Program on children.

• Position: Conference held on November 7, 1998

The NBER's Program on Children, directed by Jonathan Gruber of NBER and MIT, met in Cambridge on November 7. They discussed the following papers:

Steven D. Levitt, NBER and University of Chicago, "Juvenile Crime and Punishment" (NBER Working Paper No. 6191)

Anne M. Piehl, NBER and University of California, Berkeley, "Problem Solving and Youth Violence: An Evaluation of the Boston Gun Project

Julie B. Cullen, NBER and University of Michigan, and David N. Figlio, University of Florida, "Local Gaming of State School Finance Policies: How Effective are Intergovernmental Incentives?"

Michael Kremer, NBER and MIT; anti Paul Glewwe and Sylvie Moulin, World Bank, "Textbooks and Test Scores: Evidence From a Prospective Evaluation in Kenya"

William Harbaugh, University of Oregon, "Children's Contributions in Public Good Experiments: The Development of Altruistic and Riding Behavior"

Frank J. Chaloupka, NBER and University of Illinois; Rosalie L. Pacula, Rand Corporation; Lloyd Johnston and Patrick O'Malley, University of Michigan; and Matthew C. Farrelly and Jeremy W. Bray, Research Triangle Institute, "Do Higher Cigarette Prices Encourage Youth to Marijuana?"

Over the last two decades, violent crime has grown almost twice quickly among juveniles as among adults. Levitt finds that changes in relative punishments for juveniles and adults can account for 60 percent of that differential: juvenile offenders are at least as responsive to criminal sanctions as adults. Sharp drops in crime at the age of majority suggest that deterrence (and not merely incapacitation) plays an important role. However, there does not appear to be a strong relationship between the punitiveness of the juvenile justice system faced by a generation and the extent of criminal involvement for that generation later in life.

Piehl discusses the Boston Gun Project, a problem-solving policing initiative aimed at reducing homicide victimization among young people in Boston. The Project began in early 1995 with the creation of a working group representing a variety of law enforcement and social service agencies. In early 1996 the group implemented an intervention (now known as "Ceasefire") which focused enforcement efforts on gun trafficking, strategically responded to gang violence, and emphasized communication of the strategy in order to generate deterrence. "Ceasefire" is associated with a 60 percent decline in youth homicide victimization. Similar, though smaller, declines were...