Family Business or Social Problem? The Cost of Unreported Domestic Violence: Examining Social and Judicial Interventions and In-School Peer Effects

Scott Carrell, Associate Professor of Economics at UCDavis Social interest in problems such as domestic violence is typically motivated by concerns regarding equity, rather than efficiency. However, we document that taking steps to reduce domestic violence by reporting it yields substantial benefits to external parties. Specifically, we find that while children exposed to as-yet-unreported domestic violence reduce the achievement of their classroom peers, these costs disappear completely once the parent reports the violence to the court. This suggests the public has an interest in helping families overcome their problems in general, and to report domestic violence in particular. It also suggests that social and judicial interventions may help combat negative peer effects in schools. From the speaker's bio: Scott Carrell is an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of California, Davis. He previously taught at Dartmouth College and the U.S. Air Force Academy and served as the Senior Economist for Public Finance and Labor Economics on the staff of the President's Council of Economic Advisers during the summer of 2004. He is a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research in the Economics of Education group and a Research Fellow at Institute for the Study of Labor. He spent ten years as an active duty officer in the U.S. Air Force and is currently a Major in the Air Force Reserves. He specializes in the fields of labor economics, economics of education, and public economics. Carrell received his BA from the US Air Force Academy in 1995, an M.A. in Economics and an M.S. in Management from the University of Florida in 2002, and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Florida in 2003. About EPI: Established in 2012, the central mission of the Education Policy Initiative (EPI) is to engage in applied education policy research. EPI is a program within the Ford School that brings together nationally-recognized education policy scholars focused on the generation and dissemination of policy-relevant education research. Our speaker series and conferences focus on timely policy issues and feature prominent education researchers, practitioners and policy makers. All events are free and open to the public.

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