View Research by Author - Ritadhi Chakravarti

Publications

High marginal tax rates can make moving above poverty very difficult for low-income families. These high tax rates result from increasing direct taxes and decreasing transfer payments. A single parent with two children who increases her wages from poverty-level to 150 percent of poverty-level can face a tax rate between 26.6 percent and over 100 percent, depending on which state she lives in. In addition, her marginal tax rate can vary radically, depending on her earning pattern. This paper shows how sensitive marginal tax rates are to assumptions about state of residence, earning patterns, and program participation.

The current economic downturn has resulted in a sharp decline in state tax revenues. Forty-six states faced budget shortfalls when passing their fiscal year (FY) 2011 budgets, and 17 states reported shortfalls of more than 20 percent. According to the National Association of State Budget Officers, in tandem with budget cuts, 40 states enacted legislation to raise tax revenues in some form between fiscal years 2009 and 2011.

The Urban Institute, the Center for Court Innovation, and RTI International conducted NIJ's Multi-Site Adult Drug Court Evaluation. This presentation describes results of a multivariate model that tests whether assignment to drug court alone affect outcomes; whether drug court practices moderate outcomes, and if drug court practices mediate moderated outcomes by changing attitudes and beliefs. Findings for drug use using a mediated moderator model are presented.

NIJ's Multi-Site Evaluation of Adult Drug Courts will report on a mediation analysis to empirically test theoretical pathways to desistance. The analysis considers the theoretical mechanisms through which drug court practices are meant to impact outcomes and how such pathways can be operationalized. A path model is proposed that delineates how drug-court practices affect modifications in behaviors and attitudes, and how these changes affect outcomes. Proposed mediators include changes in: perceived risk and reward (deterrence), perceived legitimacy, and motivation to alter one's behavior. The analysis will suggest the pathways that are most crucial to desistance and the most effective drug-court components that impact these pathways.

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