As the Supreme Court considers overturning Roe v. Wade, we look back at Steve Levitt’s controversial research on an unintended consequence of the 1973 ruling….
The controversial theory linking Roe v. Wade to a massive crime drop is back in the spotlight as several states introduce abortion restrictions. Steve Levitt and John Donohue discuss their…
…in these states, with property crime (done by younger people) falling before violent crime. 2) After abortion was legalized, the availability of abortions differed dramatically across states. In some states…
…legalized abortion on crime. John and Steve talk about guns, the death penalty, the heat they took from their joint research, and why it’s frustratingly difficult to prove truth in…
…for recent crime trends as well as to determine their permanence. The lower that crime rates plunge, and the more that budgets are cut for crime prevention and crime control…
…Doing the instrumental variables estimation has a bigger impact on property crime than on violent crime. All four of the instrumental variables estimates of legalized abortion on property crime are…
…legalized abortion reduces the number of unwanted children. Consequently, legalized abortion lowers crime in the future. So what does the steady decline in abortions performed in recent years predict for…
Seth Stephens-Davidowitz combs through mountains of information to find advice for everyday life….
In policing, as in most vocations, the best employees are often promoted into leadership without much training. One economist thinks he can address this problem — and, with it, America’s…
When the world went into lockdown, experts predicted a rise in intimate-partner assaults. What actually happened was more complicated….
From domestic abusers to former child soldiers, there is increasing evidence that behavioral therapy can turn them around.
…declining crime rate, you know, they deal with this hypothesis, that one of the reasons crime is down is that abortion is up. Well — CALLER: Well, I don’t think…
…falling crime, more falling crime just isn’t newsworthy. While the pundits are eager to start explaining the many reasons for this “sharp rise” in violent crime, my view is that…
…crime. Crime rates today are a lot lower than they used to be, but crime still imposes enormous costs on society. In addition to the costs associated with the suffering…
…abortion and crime. When changes in the numbers are due to shifts in the demand curve for abortion, the relationship between abortion and crime is actually positive! Here’s another way…
Why are humans so eager for magic-bullet solutions? Can you explain how a pen works? And how does Angela feel about being forever branded “the grit lady”?…
After the Supreme Court’s abortion decision, doctors in some states are concerned that delivering treatment could put them in legal jeopardy. Bapu Jena looks at how the practice of “defensive…
The U.S. is an outlier when it comes to policing, as evidenced by more than 1,000 fatal shootings by police each year. But we’re an outlier in other ways too:…
Sure, sex crimes are horrific, and the perpetrators deserve to be punished harshly. But society keeps exacting costs — out-of-pocket and otherwise — long after the prison sentence has been…
Conventional programs tend to be expensive, onerous, and ineffective. Could something as simple (and cheap) as cognitive behavioral therapy do the trick?
We are constantly wowed by new technologies and policies meant to make childbirth better. But beware the unintended consequences.
The philosopher known for his rigorous ethics explains why Steve is leading a morally inconsistent life….
…Steeper Rise From the Los Angeles Times: Violent Crime Rises Again From the Philadelphia Inquirer: Rise in Violent Crimes is Higher than Expected It is official. The next crime wave…
A host of commenters on my Bill Bennett post get very agitated over the question of “crimes” vs. “the crime rate.” The term “crime rate” implies a denominator, typically “per…
The pandemic has hit America’s biggest city particularly hard. Amidst a deep fiscal hole, rising homicides, and a flight to the suburbs, some people think the city is heading back…
It was like the 1990s all over again when the FBI released the latest crime statistics last week. Violent crime fell by five percent; property crime fell by three percent….
Because the abortion/crime theory put forward by Steve Levitt and John Donohue in this 2001 paper was so jarring, on so many levels, it drew great interest and occasional controversy….
Clementine Jacoby went from performing in a circus to founding a nonprofit that works to shrink the prison population….
…kind of “crime dividend” (or, perhaps, “safety dividend”) should we expect? Decreased crime is of course its own reward. But with crime falling so dramatically across so many dimensions for…
The world is a more peaceful place today that at any time in history — by a long, long shot.
