New research from Rutgers Professor Amanda Agan and Clemson Professor Michael Makowsky – The Minimum Wage, EITC, and Criminal Recidivism – finds that minimum wage policies and the availability of state EITCs can have an impact on recidivism rates. Examining administrative prison release records from almost six million offenders released over 14 years, the researchers found that both policies can influence the ability of formerly incarcerated individuals to find employment as well as their legal wages relative to illegal sources of income, thereby having an effect on recidivism. One of the findings states that the availability of state EITCs reduced the probability of returning to prison, though only for women. The researchers note that this finding is not surprising considering the EITC’s focus on custodial parents of minor children. Download the full paper here.
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