Nour Abdul-Razzak

Working Papers / Projects in Progress

"Longer-Term Impacts of a Youth Behavioral Science Intervention: Experimental Evidence from Chicago " (older version of paper can be found here) with Brandon Domash, Kelly Hallberg, and Cristobal Pinto Poehls (Submitted)

Abstract: We conduct a large-scale, randomized controlled trial of a six-month intervention combining intensive mentoring and group cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for youth in Chicago, following study participants for up to five years. The program was designed to engage young people at higher risk of engagement with the criminal justice system, and successfully did so with a take-up rate of 62%. Over 24 months, youth offered the program experienced an 18% reduction in the probability of being arrested, with no impact on number of arrests. We find a significant impact on violence engagement, with a 23% reduction in the probability of a violent-crime arrest within 24 months. We find the program's impact in preventing any arrest persists into adulthood, up to four years post randomization. The program moderately improves school engagement in the first year as well. Sub-population analyses suggests that all youth are benefiting from the program, but that the program may be moving different outcomes for different groups of youth in ways related to baseline risk of engaging in the justice system or disengaging from school. We conclude that programs that combine CBT and mentoring can serve as a model to engaging a harder-to-reach population of youth, predominantly outside of school, and be cost effective in reducing criminal justice contact in the longer run.

"Measuring Discretion in Arrests: Evidence from Chicago" with Brandon Domash, Kelly Hallberg, and Cristobal Pinto Poehls

“How Community Violence Program Staff Develop Social Ties in Heavily Policed Neighborhoods” with Max Lubell and Kelly Hallberg (Submitted to American Sociological Review).

“Providing Intensive Wraparound Supports for Disengaged Chicago Youth: A Randomized Evaluation” with Max Kapustin and Max Lubell

"The Impact of Free Prison Communication Technology in Prison: An Evaluation of Ameelio" with Ashna Arora, Panka Bencsik, and Omair Gill

An extended abstract describing this multi-year research project is available here

“The Causal Effects of Unconditional Cash Transfers: Experimental Evidence from a U.S. County” with Alex Bartik, Sarah Miller, Elizabeth Rhodes, and Eva Vivalt

“The Causal Effects of Unconditional Cash Transfers: Experimental Evidence from a U.S. City” with Alex Bartik, Sarah Miller, Elizabeth Rhodes, and Eva Vivalt

“Impact of Unconditional Cash Transfers on Homeless Families: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial” with John Eric Humphries, Winnie van Dijk and Stephen Stapleton

“Impact of Holistic Legal Supports: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial in Chicago” with Kelly Hallberg and Ryan Sakoda

“Impact of Alternative Schools in Chicago on Student Outcomes” with Monica Bhatt and Farah Mallah

Publications

Labor Market Attachment and Perceived Barriers to Work Among Homeless Families; with John Eric Humphries, Stephen Stapleton, Winnie van Dijk

AEA Papers and Proceedings, vol. 115, May 2025, (pp. 103–07)

We study labor market attachment among homeless families using baseline survey data from a large-scale study in Illinois. Of homeless parents, 40 percent worked in the past month. Among those not working, most report wanting and actively searching for a job. When asked about barriers to employment, parents overwhelmingly cite childcare constraints, lack of housing, lack of transportation, and family responsibilities. Health problems or skills deficits are mentioned far less frequently. The nature of these barriers—each associated with upfront investments—suggests that homeless families lack the initial financial resources needed to obtain stable employment.

After Citizens United: How outside spending shapes American democracy; with Carlo Prato and Stephane Wolton

Electoral Studies, Volume 67, October 2020, 102190

We study the political consequences of lifting restrictions on the funding of groups engaging in outside spending (e.g., independent political advertising) in elections. Theoretically, we assume that outside spending changes the salience of candidate-specific attributes relative to their party labels. Empirically, we employ a difference-in-differences design that exploits the removal of state-level restrictions on the funding of outside spending mandated by the federal-level rulings in both Citizens United and SpeechNow.org v. FEC. We find strong evidence that these regulatory changes increase the electoral success of Republican candidates, thereby leading to more ideologically conservative legislatures. We find no effect on polarization. Consistent with our theory, the size of our estimated effects depends on the power of labor unions and the alignment of business interests with the Republican party.

Press: Monkey Cage post, Vox.com, The Ezra Klein Show

Pre-Doctoral Publications

“Immigrants’ Access to Financial Services & Asset Accumulation” with Una Okonkwo Osili and Anna Paulson. In Handbook of the Economics of International Migration, Volume 1, Chapter 8, edited by Barry R. Chiswick and Paul W. Miller, 2015.