Abstract
This paper uses unique experimental data from a youth training program in the Favelas, Brazil, to examine whether youth training programs can prevent treatment recipients from engaging in risk behavior—i.e., cigarettes, alcohol, and hard drug utilization, as well as witnessing or being a victim of violent crime. Although the program was successful in increasing income, we find that it only improved risk behavior of the treated individuals with higher levels of socio-emotional skills. JEL Classification: O11, O22, O17
Highlights
The young are the segment of the population that has the highest use of illegal drugs, marijuana, cigarettes, and alcohol
The z-scores are calculated by subtracting the control group mean and dividing by the control group standard deviation of these characteristics may be unobserved for the researcher, the estimates of the causal effects of youth training programs on risk behavior will be biased if these differences are ignored
We study the predictability of socio-emotional skills on the risk behavior of individuals that belong to different age, gender, or income groups in the Appendix
Summary
The young are the segment of the population that has the highest use of illegal drugs, marijuana, cigarettes, and alcohol. We study whether youth training programs may be more successful in deterring risk behavior for individuals with better socio-emotional skills. It is likely that higher levels of employment and income (induced by the participation in youth training programs) could have differential effects on youth risk behavior based on their heterogenous socio-emotional skills. 4 Research methodology The motivation for relying on randomized variation to identify the effects of youth training programs on risk behavior follows standard concerns of selection biases. The z-scores are calculated by subtracting the control group mean and dividing by the control group standard deviation of these characteristics may be unobserved for the researcher, the estimates of the causal effects of youth training programs on risk behavior will be biased if these differences are ignored.
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