SI 2026 Economics of Crime
Organized by Jens Ludwig and Crystal Yang
Supported by Arnold Ventures
July 30-31, 2026
Royal Sonesta Hotel, 40 Edwin H. Land Blvd., Cambridge, MA
Thursday, July 30
8:15 am
Coffee and Pastries
Morning Joint with Law and Economics
8:45 am

Measuring Discrimination using Natural Experiments

Nikhil Rao, National Bureau of Economic Research
James M. Reeves, University of Colorado Denver
9:45 am

The Role of Beliefs in Driving Racial Discrimination: Experimental Evidence from the U.S. Pretrial System

Will S. Dobbie, Harvard University and NBER
Crystal Yang, Harvard University and NBER
10:45 am
Break
11:00 am

Predicting Police Misconduct

Dylan Fitzpatrick, The University of Chicago
Jens Ludwig, The University of Chicago and NBER
Anuj Shah, The University of Chicago
Gregory Stoddard, Northwestern University
12:00 pm
Lunch
1:00 pm

Debiasing Law Enforcement Officers: Evidence from an Expressive Arts Intervention in India

Sofia Amaral, The World Bank
Girija Borker, The World Bank
Nishith Prakash, Northeastern University
Maria Micaela Sviatschi, Princeton University and NBER
2:00 pm

Every Day Low Crime

Alec Brandon, Johns Hopkins University
John A. List, The University of Chicago and NBER
Ian Muir, Walmart
Hari Pingali, Walmart
Evan K. Rose, The University of Chicago and NBER
3:00 pm
Break
3:15 pm

Job Displacement, Crime, and the Value of Unemployment Insurance in the US

Itzik Fadlon, University of California, San Diego and NBER
Michael G. Mueller-Smith, University of Michigan and NBER
Benjamin Pyle, Boston University
James M. Reeves, University of Colorado Denver
Briana Sullivan, U.S. Census Bureau
4:15 pm
Adjourn
6:00 pm
Group Dinner - location TBA
Friday, July 31
8:00 am
Coffee and Pastries
8:30 am

Explaining the Predictive Performance of Police in Cases of Domestic Abuse

Jeffrey Grogger, The University of Chicago and NBER
Andrew Jordan, Washington University in St. Louis
Tom Kirchmaier, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
9:30 am

Accusing and Believing in Equilibrium: Evidence from #MeToo

Anya Marchenko, Brown University
Bobak Pakzad-Hurson, Brown University
10:30 am
Break
10:45 am

Restraining Orders and the Deterrence of Domestic Violence

Eric Helland, Claremont McKenna College
Minjae Yun, Claremont McKenna College
11:45 am

The Effect of Housing Access on Intimate Partner Violence: Evidence from the Family Options Study

Pun Winichakul, Smith College
Ning Zhang, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK)
12:45 pm
Lunch
2:00 pm

Learning About Police Bias: Prosecutors and Police Before and After Body-Worn Cameras

Emma Harrington, University of Virginia
Hannah Shaffer, Harvard Law School
3:00 pm

Prison Peer Effects and the Public Safety Tradeoff

Aurelie Ouss, University of Pennsylvania and NBER
Arnaud Philippe, University of Bristol
4:00 pm
Adjourn