RESEARCH

The Effects of Youth Clubs on Education and Crime

Youth clubs are community-based after-school programs, typically offered free of charge to teenagers in underprivileged neighbourhoods. I provide the first causal estimates of their effects on education and crime leveraging quasi-experimental variation from austerity-related cuts, which led to the staggered closure of 30% of youth clubs in London between 2010 and 2019. I use difference-in-differences research designs and novel data to compare neighbourhoods affected by closures to those unaffected. Teenagers in areas affected performed 4% worse in national high school exams. Youths aged 10 to 18 became 13% more likely to commit crimes. Youth clubs provide key support in a lasting manner, particularly to youths at risk. The effects appear to be due to youth clubs offering unique amenities that support positive behaviours rather than due to mere incapacitation. Closing youth clubs was not cost-effective; for every £1 saved from closures there are associated losses of £2.88 due to forgone returns to education and crime costs.

Runner up for Best Paper at Royal Economic Society PhD Conference 2023

Media: VoxEU, The Guardian

Other Impact: National Youth Agency, Schoolsweek, UK Parliament-Hansard,  UK Parliament TV (minutes 10.03.15, and 10.33.50), IfG 

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/obr1mdn9db9s4eoq40n32/Villa_EALE.pdf?rlkey=bkzrjwwnexrntz7f72ii28zkh&dl=0

Specialised Courts and the Reporting of Intimate Partner Violence: Evidence from Spain 

with Jorge Garcia-Hombrados and Marta Martinez-Matute - Journal of Public Economics  (forthcoming) 

Gangs of London: Public Housing, Bombs, and Knives 

with Richard Disney, Tom Kirchmaier and Stephen Machin

Media: BBC World News (TV), LSE IQ, The Economist, Nada Es Gratis

Other Impact: Behavioural Insights, UK Parliament, Mayor of London, Action on Armed Violence

Minimum Legal Drinking Age, Drinking Habits, and Educational Outcomes 

with Manuel Bagues

Full draft available on request

The long-run effect of a large-scale conditional cash transfer scheme

with Jack Britton, Nick Ridpath, and Ben Waltmann