When Should You Use a Condom?
Recently I spoke about condom use at TEDxYale. It’s based on the article “A Separate Crime of Reckless Sex” I co-authored with Katharine K. Baker. http://youtu.be/FObjpPyOUgA…
Recently I spoke about condom use at TEDxYale. It’s based on the article “A Separate Crime of Reckless Sex” I co-authored with Katharine K. Baker. http://youtu.be/FObjpPyOUgA…
There are a lot of barriers to changing your mind: ego, overconfidence, inertia — and cost. Politicians who flip-flop get mocked; family and friends who cross tribal borders are shunned….
Sudhir Venkatesh, Columbia sociologist and author of “Gang Leader for a Day,” is back once again for an eighth report after watching “The Wire” with a group of gangland acquaintances….
Why does listening to No Stupid Questions feel like you’re hanging out with your best friends? Why did the whole world take it personally when Princess Diana died? And how…
In the Freakonomics chapter about real estate agents’ informational advantage, we discussed the different terms that agents use in want ads, and those terms’ correlation with higher or lower sales…
…be used to find the next Bernie Madoff. Arguably, these frauds are a thousand times more dangerous for the retail investor than what is probably a victimless crime such as…
…article was “once offered a job on the Clinton economic team, and the Bush campaign approached him about being a crime adviser.” Here’s what he had to say: Politicians don’t…
On March 2, 2010, Michael Adam Sigala was executed by the state of Texas for?the double murder of Brazilian newlyweds Kleber and Lillian Santos. Just before his lethal injection was…
…— just as an economist would expect. All they seemed to care about was the fact that they make good wages, have a nice lifestyle, and are free from crime….
Societies where people trust one another are healthier and wealthier. In the U.S. (and the U.K. and elsewhere), social trust has been falling for decades — in part because our…
Read the Column » Rainfall, Poverty and Crime in 19th Century Germany By Halvor Mehlum, Edward Miguel and Ragnar Torvik Economic Aftermath of the 1960s Riots in American Cities By…
…British laws that prohibit publication of information that could be deemed prejudicial to defendants charged with a crime.” So not only is the article missing from nytimes.com, but also from…
Sin in the Second City, a new book by Karen Abbott, offers an in-depth look at the prostitution trade in turn-of-the-century Chicago. In particular, Abbott focuses on the Everleigh sisters,…
From research by economists J.J. Prescott and Jonah Rockoff, here are a few current statistics on sex offenses reported to the police: 1) 25 percent of victims are 10-14 years…
Sudhir Venkatesh has become pretty well known in these parts as an authority on the inner workings of criminal street gangs. His new book is out tomorrow; but today, here’s…
Most epidemics flare up, do their damage, and fade away. This one has been raging for almost 30 years. To find out why, it’s time to ask some uncomfortable questions….
The process is famously secretive (and conducted in Swedish!) but we pry the lid off at least a little bit.
Read the Column » 1978 New York City Pooper Scooper Law Using Sentence Enhancements to Distinguish Between Deterrence and Incapacitation By Steven D. Levitt and Daniel Kessler…
…own InTrade to all betting on Presidential elections? A fixie index shows a surprising capital of hipster bikes. Can birdsong really kill crime? (I am skeptical; related.) (HT: Chad Troutwine)…
My colleague Chad Syverson passed along the following news clipping, although as a native North Dakotan, he swears this sort of thing would never happen in North Dakota (only in…
Birthdays! Why do Americans prefer Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July to theirs? Why do they make Stephen think of molasses and chicken feed? And is “Happy Birthday” the worst…
A proposed history of the efficient markets hypothesis. (Hat tip: MidasOracle) U.N. climate change conference to discuss global warming post-2012. (Earlier) Senator proposes national registry for convicted arsonists. (Earlier) The…
…of measuring a pretty vague concept. But surely there must be a more robust method. What about rates of voting? Or crime maybe? Go ahead readers, how would you measure…
First-year medical residents made more mistakes when they were required to work fewer hours. Automated education: EdX offers classes online, marks essays and tests. Telemedicine has doctors in Texas treating…
…not the crime, it’s the coverup,” “Some days you’re the windshield, some days you’re the bug,” “Think outside the box,” and “Get busy living or get busy dying.” Sunday’s Atlanta…
(Photo: Wonderlane) Encouraging news via the Associated Press: For the first time in almost half a century, homicide has fallen off the list of the nation’s top 15 causes of…
Why do you have to pay $4 to get $40 cash at a bar? And who does it go to? Zachary Crockett checks his balance….
…named Michael Dorr writes in to say: “Surely, Bernie Madoff has the greatest aptonym in the history of aptonyms. It’s as if he was predestined to perpetrate this very crime.”…
Also: is it better to “go with the wind” or to “be the wind”?
Photo: G. Paul Burnett/The New York Times A few years back, I wrote an article about the N.F.L.’s annual “rookie symposium,” a four-day gathering during which the league tries to…
