Economics Research Community Seminar – Dr Magdalena Dominguez

Title: Neighbourhood Labelling and Youth Schooling Paths

Date: 6 December 2023

Time: 13:00-14:00

Location: NUBS.2.13

If you would like to attend, please register using the following link:

Event Title: Neighbourhood Labelling and Youth Schooling Paths

Speaker: Dr Magdalena Dominguez

Magdalena is a Research Economist at the Centre for Economic Performance (CEP) at the London School of Economics and Political Science. She is part of the community wellbeing programme and the policing and crime group. Her research interests broadly refer to issues related to the economics of crime, networks, and place-based policies. https://sites.google.com/view/magdalena-dominguez/home

Abstract:

In 2015, the Swedish police unexpectedly started publishing their internal list identifying “vulnerable areas.” While the public release of the list gave rise to a massive increase in media reports about the listed neighbourhoods, often portraying them negatively, it did not lead to affect police resources or public interventions. Exploiting geocoded data on the police list, neighbourhoods, and schools, we explore how the release affected the performance and sorting of students completing compulsory school and applying to high schools. Our research strategy compares the change in the outcomes of individuals living in listed neighbourhoods with those in non-listed areas with comparable sociodemographic characteristics. Our main finding is that listing a neighbourhood did not affect student performance but increased sorting. Students from listed neighbourhoods were less likely to sort into high-quality high schools and were more likely to apply for high schools within their neighbourhoods. Our results are consistent with models of neighbourhood labelling wherein residents in neighbourhoods with a negative public image adjust their behaviour in response to anticipated or actual discrimination.