Sudhir Venkatesh, who’s got a dialog with Alex Kotlowitz over at “Slate” about his new book “Gang Leader for a Day,” is back now with his fourth installment of watching “The Wire” with a group of New York-area gang personnel. His previous entries can be found here. “Pay up fools!” Shine cried as Marlo entered Prop Joe’s kitchen. After the . . .
Sudhir Venkatesh, our good friend and author of the new book “Gang Leader for a Day,” continues today with his weekly mission of watching “The Wire” with some real gang personnel and reporting on their reaction (and his). Your response to his previous posts has been enthusiastic. Typical comments: “More” and “Please post this every week!” Sudhir, in deference to . . .
The abortion rate in the United States is at a thirty year low — though even with the decline, we are still talking about a large number of abortions in absolute terms, or 1.2 million per year. To put this number into perspective, there are about 4 million births per year in the U.S. John Donohue and I have argued . . .
Last week, Freakonomics guest blogger Sudhir Venkatesh sat down with a group of current and former gang members to watch “The Wire.” This week, he took time out from touring for his new book (see reviews here, here, and here) to meet up with them again for Episode Two. What price, a cop? I posed this question to several self-described . . .
In earlier posts here and here, I wrote that I was going on TV to talk about an issue that’s been missing from the presidential campaign. And that issue is … Crime. A lot of you guessed correctly; a lot of you named other issues that have also been very quiet. I think the fact that the candidates aren’t spending . . .
A few days ago, Levitt blogged about an interesting study finding that violent movies reduce crime (at least in the short run). The reason, according to the study’s authors, Gordon Dahl and Stefano DellaVigna, is simply that more violent movies means fewer drunken louts on the streets. It is simply an incapacitation effect. One way of testing this hypothesis would . . .
There are few people I have ever met who are more interesting to talk to than Sudhir Venkatesh. I’ve known him for over a decade, and I cannot remember ever having a boring conversation with him. This Q&A with Venkatesh gives you a sedate and sanitized peek into the sorts of things he has been part of throughout his career. . . .
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is one politician who can credibly claim that he is truly responsible for reducing crime, at least if you believe a new study by economists Gordon Dahl and Stefano DellaVigna. It isn’t his policies as governor, however, that he can take credit for, but rather his acting roles. In their new paper entitled “Does Movie Violence . . .
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 a great post from him about watching “The Wire” with some of the kind of guys who are portrayed in it. Ever since I began watching HBO’s The Wire, I . . .
The Education Life supplement in yesterday’s Times included an intriguing article simply called “Data” and subtitled “Law and Order.” It listed crime statistics for roughly 120 urban college campuses across the country. A brief introduction warned that the statistics could easily be — well, junk: With so many ways to consider and report crime, statistics are inconclusive. But by federal . . .
I have blogged repeatedly about the propensity of the media to distort official crime reports to make it appear as if things are getting inexorably worse. (You can see past examples here, here, and here.) Crime has more or less been treading water in the United States over the last few years, although you would never know it from the . . .
Dan Hamermesh, on his Economic Thought of the Day blog — it is excellent, and always fun — wrote this recently: A disaster has occurred in Germany: The staple drink – beer – is rising in price. The reason is that there is a worldwide shortage of barley, a major ingredient in the brew. This has pushed up the price . . .
Peter Landesman has written a fascinating article for L.A. Weekly on street gangs. The events he details are chilling. I can’t say I agree with some of the broader claims of the piece, however. Landesman argues that the gang problem is worse than it has ever been, and that gang violence hasn’t dropped the way other crimes have. A quick . . .
Last time out, we asked if you’d rather be arrested for embezzlement or prostitution. Your response was overwhelmingly in favor of prostitution. Here’s another choice between two bad options: Would you rather be Conrad Black or Michael Vick? Yesterday, both of them were sentenced to prison terms, Vick for nearly 2 years and Black for 6-1/2 years. (Black’s sentence was . . .
Riskometer helps put health warnings in perspective. The wildest contract perks that MLB players have demanded, and gotten. (Earlier) Game theory expert confesses to wife’s murder. New study links entrepreneurs and dyslexia.
How much influence do the primaries really have? Despite the “War on Drugs,” illegal drugs still a multi-billion dollar business. Holiday gifts for data addicts. (HT: Consumerist) Guatemala’s government moves to regulate baby trade.
Why both A-Rod and the Yankees will benefit from his contract. (Earlier) L.A. finds that “honor system” is futile on the subway. Survey finds college admissions still a blood sport. (Earlier) Brain studies show teenagers more prone to committing crimes.
James Flynn discusses the phenomenon of IQs rising through generations. Prostitute auctions off services for Chilean charity. (Earlier) Genetics and intelligence not necessarily linked. Man attempts to open bank account with $1 million bill.
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 misery of economy air travel continues. (Earlier)
That is the finding of our informal “Would You Rather” poll, asking if you’d rather be arrested for embezzlement or prostitution. By a measure of nearly 4-to-1, you chose prostitution. It’s amazing what you learn about people when you have a blog. As promised, a piece of Freakonomics schwag goes to someone who wrote a particularly entertaining reply. That someone . . .
Music video depicts drug dealer counting cash in euros. (Hat Tip: Foreign Policy) Study finds gender discrimination in coffee shops. Devra Davis to speak at NYU. (Earlier) An alternative theory to the conventional wisdom on dinosaur extinction.
I heard an interesting story recently. A woman at a dinner party said that her mother (let’s call her Jane) was having lunch at a well-known and expensive New York restaurant when she went to the ladies’ room. While washing her hands, she made the cardinal sin of removing her diamond ring, and then forgot to retrieve it before she . . .
Pretend you work at a mid-size advertising agency. Would you rather … 1. Be arrested for minor embezzlement and get fired? 2. Be arrested for prostitution (or, more likely, solicitation thereof) and get fired? Keep in mind that solicitation and embezzlement of under $1,000 are both class A misdemeanors in New York, with prison time of up to a year . . .
A couple of years ago, we wrote a column about crack cocaine, which ended with a discussion of the federal sentencing guidelines for crack vs. powder cocaine: This disparity has often been called racist since it disproportionately imprisons blacks. In fact, the law probably made sense at the time, when a gram of crack did have far more devastating social . . .
I have a favorite thought exercise: look at an issue that’s important, complex, and interesting — something like healthcare, education, or electoral politics — and pretend that you could rebuild the system from scratch, without the convoluted histories and incentives that currently exist. What would the new system look like? How differently would you think about key issues if there . . .
The major news media (see for instance here and here) have been reporting recently on the hypothesis that banning lead from gasoline caused a reduction in crime. This follows a similar article in the Washington Post a few months ago, which I blogged about at the time. Since a lot of people have written to us lately asking for comment . . .
“Womenomics” on the rise. Want crime stats, school rankings, and home listings in L.A.? Look no further. Government to increase use of pilotless planes. (Earlier) Are there factual errors in An Inconvenient Truth? (Earlier)
Have you all played around with Zipskinny? It’s a site that takes data from the 2000 census and lets you search by ZIP code to see demographic information in your area, and compare it to others: income levels, racial breakdown, unemployment, education level, marital status, etc. It’s pretty basic information, little more than a snapshot, but it’s a good snapshot . . .
U.S. government cracks down on street gangs. (Earlier) Martin Feldstein discusses inflation, income disparity, and the housing market. The Ivory Coast tries a new tactic for tardy employees: be on time, win a house. Busy airports hire “sign consultants” to reduce traveler confusion.
Freakonomics makes the case that good parenting doesn’t necessarily produce good children. But what’s the effect of bad parenting — especially child abuse? Martin Amis offered some evidence on that subject in a talk at the New Yorker Festival this weekend, in the form of a “charming anecdote about Stalin.” In 1937, Stalin liquidated most of his census board for . . .