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Understanding Why Crime Fell in the 1990s: Four Factors that Explain the Decline and Six that Do Not
Author: Levitt, Steven D.
Source: The Journal of Economic Perspectives, Volume 18, Number 1, Winter 2004 , pp. 163-190(28)
Publisher: American Economic Association
Abstract:
Understanding Why Crime Fell in the 1990s: Four Factors that Explain the Decline and Six that Do Not Crime dropped sharply and unexpectedly in the United States in the 1990s. I conclude that four factors collectively explain the entire drop in crime: increases in the number of police, increases in the size of the prison population, the waning of the crack epidemic, and the legalization of abortion in the 1970s. Other common explanations for declining crime appear far less important. The factors identified are much less successful in explaining fluctuations in crime in the preceding two decades. The real puzzle is not why crime fell in the 1990s, but rather, why crime did not begin falling earlier.Document Type: Research article
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/089533004773563485
Publication date: 2004-12-01
- The Journal of Economic Perspectives (JEP) attempts to fill a gap between the general interest press and most other academic economics journals. The journal aims to publish articles that will serve several goals: to synthesize and integrate lessons learned from active lines of economic research; to provide economic analysis of public policy issues; to encourage cross-fertilization of ideas among the fields of thinking; to offer readers an accessible source for state-of-the-art economic thinking; to suggest directions for future research; to provide insights and readings for classroom use; and to address issues relating to the economics profession.
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