Security Without Equity? The Effect of Secure Communities on Racial Profiling by Police
By Jack Willoughby
Anecdotal and circumstantial evidence suggest that the implementation of Secure Communities, a federal program that allows police officers to more easily identify illegal immigrants, has increased racial bias by police. The goal of this analysis is to empirically evaluate the effect of Secure Communities on racial bias by police using motor vehicle stop and search data from the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation. This objective differs from most previous research, which has largely attempted to quantify racial profiling for a moment in time rather than looking at how an event influences racial profiling. I examine the effects of Secure Communities on police treatment of Hispanics vs. whites with an expanded difference-in-difference approach that looks at outcomes in motor vehicle search success rate, search rate conditional on a police stop, stop rate, and police action conditional on stop. Statistical analyses yield no evidence that the ratification of Secure Communities increased racial profiling against Hispanics by police. This finding is at odds with the anecdotal and circumstantial evidence that has led many to believe that the ratification of Secure Communities led to a widespread increase in racial profiling by police, a discrepancy that should caution policy makers about making decisions driven by stories and summary statistics.
Advisor: Frank Sloan | JEL Codes: J15, K14, K37, K42 | Tagged: Racial Policing, Bias, Immigration Law, Secure Communities
Economic Racism: A Look at Rental Prices in 1930
By Basel Fakhoury
The Great Migration caused massive demographic changes in Northeastern and Midwestern cities as African Americans moved from the South to the North. These changes led to economic discrimination and segregation within northern cities. This paper compares African American and white rental prices in four major cities: Chicago, Detroit, New York City, and Philadelphia in an effort to see how this discrimination and segregation affected rental prices. The results consistently show that in the most precise geographic area, prices rise as the concentration of blacks in those neighborhoods rise, which I believe is a result of overcrowding.
Advisor: Patrick Bayer | JEL Codes: J1, J11, J15, R31 | Tagged: Economic Discrimination, Housing Markets, Segregation, The Great Migration
How Do Different Parental Beliefs and Parenting behaviors Affect Students’ College Academic Performance?
By Zifan Lin
I examine the differences between Asian Americans and Caucasian Americans with respect to parental beliefs, parenting behaviors, and college academic achievement. The results suggest that 1) there is a strong causal effect of study time on college performance, 2) parental strictness and emphasis on education distinguish Asian American students from Caucasian American students in their choice of a major, study effort, and self-motivation, all of which determine college GPA, and 3) an expanded list of parental control measures and self-motivation measures should be introduced in future research to effectively explain the ethnicity effect on study effort and college academic outcomes.
Advisor: Peter Arcidiacono, Marjorie McElroy | JEL Codes: I2, J10, J15, J22 | Tagged: Academic Achievement, Asian, Education Economics, Instrumental Variables Regressions, Study Time
