Students exposed to additional funding during elementary school were substantially less likely to be arrested in adulthood

 This paper asks whether improving the quality of public schools can be an effective long-run crime-prevention strategy in the U.S. Specifically, the paper examines the effect of school quality improvements early in children's lives on the likelihood that they are arrested as adults.

 The first research design exploits variation in operating expenditures due to Michigan's 1994 school finance reform, Proposal A. The second design exploits variation in capital spending by leveraging close school district capital bond elections in a regression discontinuity framework. 

In both cases, students exposed to additional funding during elementary school were substantially less likely to be arrested in adulthood. The Marginal Value of Public Funds of improving school quality (via increases in funding) is greater than one, even when considering only the crime-reducing benefits.