Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/127461 
Year of Publication: 
2015
Citation: 
[Journal:] IZA Journal of European Labor Studies [ISSN:] 2193-9012 [Volume:] 4 [Issue:] 21 [Publisher:] Springer [Place:] Heidelberg [Year:] 2015 [Pages:] 1-21
Publisher: 
Springer, Heidelberg
Abstract: 
We study the entry into legitimate employment and earnings of a large sample of convicts released from Hungarian prisons in 2002-08. The employment rate of the prisoners falls short of 20% one year before incarceration, and they earn 25% below the national average. We identify the effect of prison by exploiting differences in the timing of incarceration and also by estimating fixed-effect models. For convicts with a single prison term, we find an initially negative effect on employment, which turns positive after a year, though the impact on earnings is permanently negative. A comparison with recidivists suggests that these results are driven by a drop in the reservation wages of "reformed" criminals. This reading is supported by further data showing that the average ex-inmate tends to make increased efforts to find a legitimate source of livelihood and support in job search.
Subjects: 
Incarceration
Prison effects
Unemployment
Wage loss
Discrimination
JEL: 
K42
J64
J39
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by Logo
Document Type: 
Article

Files in This Item:
File
Size
962.78 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.