His premise is that the reason crime has gone down is because of legalized abortion. Fewer unwanted babies = fewer criminals. The problem with that is that it is flat wrong. In the 70s and 80s, it wasnt the girls in the ghetto or trailer park who were getting abortions, it was the white middle class womyn who didnt want a baby to inconvenience their glorious careers. Also, much of the crime reduction of the past 25 years is a result of tougher laws for criminals (in spite of the dems). This is just my analysis. There is a whole thread here on FR somewhere where there is much more data to dispute this stupid, thrown-together book.
Thanks. I credit the aging of the population, the mostly booming economy, and the rediscovery of conservative values (which includes tougher prosecution of crime) with the drop in crime rates.
I'll search for the thread on Levitt's book. Thanks.
Thanks for your point of on this book. I didn't realize that.