School Accountability, Long-Run Criminal Activity, and Self-Sufficiency

 This paper examines the impact of school accountability on adult crime and economic self-sufficiency. The authors employ a unique source of linked administrative data from a Southern state and exploit exogenous variation generated by the state's accountability regime. 

The findings indicate that a school's receipt of a lower accountability rating, at the bottom end of the ratings distribution, decreases adult criminal involvement. Accountability pressures also reduce the propensity of students' reliance on social welfare programs in adulthood and these effects persist at least until when individuals reach their early 30s. Further examination reveals that these results are consistent with an explanation related to improvements in human capital accumulation.