RESEARCH
JOB MARKET PAPER
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
PUBLICATIONS
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)
WORKING PAPERS AND WORK IN PROGRESS
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
POLICY
Police Home Visits to High-Incidence Offenders (2023) - with Geoffrey Barnes and Alex Murray
Comparing Misconduct Hearings Chaired by Chief Officers and Legally Qualified Chairs (2023) - with Lawrence Sherman, Geoffrey Barnes and Michele Roner, Cambridge Journal of Evidence Based Policing
Media: The Times, BBC Radio 4
Covid-19 and changing crime trends in England and Wales (2020, updated in 2022) - with Shubanghi Agrawal and Tom Kirchmaier, CEP Covid-19 Analysis
Media: CentrePiece, The Guardian, The Mill, Economics Observatory
Cities still matter: the impact of Covid-19 on regional structure (2021) - with Mirko Draca and Max Nathan, CAGE Policy Report
From mutual need to growing rift (2019) - with Luis Cornago and Javier Padilla, Policy Network
An economic analysis of liability of hosting services (2017) - with Joanna Hornik, Bruges European Economic Research