Search Results

Author: Desimone, Jeffrey Scott
Resulting in 3 citations.
1. Chatterji, Pinka
Desimone, Jeffrey Scott
Adolescent Drinking and High School Dropout
NBER Working Paper No. 11337, National Bureau of Economic Research, May 2005.
Also: http://papers.nber.org/papers/W11337
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79, NLSY79 Young Adult
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
Keyword(s): Alcohol Use; Behavior Problems Index (BPI); CESD (Depression Scale); Depression (see also CESD); Educational Attainment; High School Dropouts; Human Capital; Intergenerational Patterns/Transmission; Modeling; Mothers, Behavior; Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT); Variables, Instrumental

This paper estimates the effect of binge and frequent drinking by adolescents on subsequent high school dropout using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 Young Adults. We estimate an instrumental variables model with an indicator of any past month alcohol use, which is by definition correlated with heavy drinking but should have minimal additional impact on educational outcomes, as the identifying instrument, and also control for a rich set of potentially confounding variables, including maternal characteristics and dropout risk factors measured before and during adolescence. In comparison, OLS provides conservative estimates of the causal impact of heavy drinking on dropping out, implying that binge or frequent drinking among 15 - 16 year old students lowers the probability of having graduated or being enrolled in high school four years later by at least 11 percent. Overidentification tests using two measures of maternal youthful alcohol use as additional instruments support our identification strategy.
Bibliography Citation
Chatterji, Pinka and Jeffrey Scott Desimone. "Adolescent Drinking and High School Dropout." NBER Working Paper No. 11337, National Bureau of Economic Research, May 2005.
2. Desimone, Jeffrey Scott
Illegal Drug Use and Employment
Journal of Labor Economics 20,4 (October 2002): 952-977.
Also: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/342893
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Keyword(s): Drug Use; Employment; Male Sample; Modeling, Probit; Simultaneity; Unemployment

This article investigates the relationship between employment and the use of marijuana and cocaine for males in National Longitudinal Survey of Youth data from 1984 and 1988. Previous studies yielding mixed evidence may have inadequately accounted for the simultaneity between drug consumption and employment. I implement an instrumental variable procedure that identifies drug use with variables that are empirically unrelated to employment, including the regional cocaine price and a state marijuana decriminalization indicator. Results indicate that the use of each drug substantially reduces the likelihood of employment. Exogeneity tests reveal that standard probit estimates are severely biased toward zero.
Bibliography Citation
Desimone, Jeffrey Scott. "Illegal Drug Use and Employment." Journal of Labor Economics 20,4 (October 2002): 952-977.
3. Desimone, Jeffrey Scott
Is Marijuana a Gateway Drug?
Eastern Economic Journal 24,2 (Spring 1998): 149-163.
Also: http://www.jstor.org/pss/40325834
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Journals
Keyword(s): Alcohol Use; Child Health; Children, Home Environment; Drug Use; Illegal Activities; Poverty; Pre/post Natal Health Care; Substance Use

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Marijuana is by far the most widely-used illicit drug. Though marijuana is a powerful intoxicant with subjective psychedelic-like effects that are more complicated than those of alcohol or cocaine, research has yet to show that marijuana consumption has harmful consequences. In truth, the primary cause for concern about marijuana use may be that it potentially leads to the use of more hazardous illegal drugs such as cocaine. This premise arises from evidence that the overwhelming majority of adolescent and young adult cocaine users have previously used marijuana [O'Donnell and Clayton, 1982; Mills and Noyes, 1984; Yamaguchi and Kandel, 1984; Newcomb and gentler, 1986; Kandel and Yamaguchi, 1993] and is known as the gateway hypotheses. Since the use of cocaine is associated with problems such as crime, child poverty, poor neonatal health, and the spread of HIV, a gateway effect of marijuana on cocaine could signify a sizable social cost of marijuana use.
Bibliography Citation
Desimone, Jeffrey Scott. "Is Marijuana a Gateway Drug?" Eastern Economic Journal 24,2 (Spring 1998): 149-163.