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When it comes to the issue of crime and the way we talk about it, we’re in a strange place. For a few years now, we’ve been hearing lots of statistics that tell us that the crime rate nationally, and in many communities, community, is as low as it has been in decades. Yet, the perception lingers that the incidence of crime has never been higher. There may be several reasons for this disconnect. If I had to venture a guess, one reason would be that some politicians can never go wrong by scaring the hell out of everyone with...

Tucker Carlson sounded off on the next legislative agenda item needing attention after tax reform was passed. Democrats are demanding a DACA deal in the New Year and are threatening to shut down the government by opposing a year-end spending bill, Carlson said. Carlson said Democrats will be outraged "if 700,000 people here illegally under DACA don't get amnesty." Citing a recent Politico story, Carlson said the Democrats will deal with Republicans on the issue as long as the GOP's "security and other enforcement measures... weren't too onerous." "In other words, Democrats are fine with border enforcement as long as...

Carlson sounded off on the next legislative agenda item needing attention after tax reform was passed. Democrats are demanding a DACA deal in the New Year and are threatening to shut down the government by opposing a year-end spending bill, Carlson said. Carlson said Democrats will be outraged "if 700,000 people here illegally under DACA don't get amnesty." Citing a recent Politico story, Carlson said the Democrats will deal with Republicans on the issue as long as the GOP's "security and other enforcement measures... weren't too onerous."

On the surface, California's job market is booming. The state has now recovered all the jobs lost during the recession, and done so at a faster pace than all but five states. The growth, though, belies a troubling imbalance. The fastest job creation has come in low-wage sectors, in which pay has declined. At the high end of the salary scale, a different dynamic has taken hold: rising pay and improving employment after rounds of consolidation. Most distressing, middle-wage workers are losing out on both counts. "People talk about it like an hourglass," said Tracey Grose, vice president of the...

There has been a controversial meme circulating for several years which holds that the abortion right resulted unintentionally in a reduction in crime.  The idea, I think, is that the fetuses who became medical waste would, but for being aborted, have become children raised in unstable homes and poor environments, leading many, thereafter, to commit crimes in disproportionate numbers. It has raised hackles, as well it should.Here’s the latest example of the assertion in a program called Freakonomics.  From the transcript of “Misadventures in Baby Making:” LEVITT: So, what does this legalized abortion have to do with crime? Well, the...

Boston Globe writer James Alan Fox has yet another refutation of the claim by economists John Donohue and Steven Levitt in their infamous book Freakonomics that legalizing abortion led to a drop in crime rates.Fox said readers of the newspaper emailed him recently concerning a New York Times piece on crime rate reductions and they advocated the disproved notion that legalized abortion resulted in a reduction in violent crimes. Fox, a criminologist, has responded and says the theory is full of holes: Despite persuasive logic regarding a reduction in the number of children born to circumstances that would place...

Student Readers Go Rogue Malcolm A. Kline, February 3, 2010 Sarah Palin’s memoir, Going Rogue: An American Life, is number 4 on the Chronicle of Higher Education’s What They’re Reading on College Campuses bestseller list. This could produce the biggest shock wave to hit faculty lounges since Reagan captured the youth vote, you betcha’. Of course, Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, is at number 2 and their sequel, SuperFreakonomics, is at number 6. Freakonomics, be it remembered, is the magnum opus of University of Chicago economist Levitt,...

Oh, sweet irony -- a book co-authored by a New York Times writer which proves that the Times didn't start fabricating stories recently. That is, unless you consider 1964 to be "recently." The confabulation of the Kitty Genovese murder drama is found in the third chapter of SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance (William Morrow 2009; ISBN 978-0-06-088957-9).

IF we need to cool the Earth in a hurry, what is the best way to do it? Reducing carbon emissions is not a great way of cooling the Earth in a hurry for two key reasons: (1) even if we cut carbon emissions today, the Earth will continue warming for decades; and (2) reducing carbon emissions is expensive, with a price tag of at least $1 trillion per year. (There is a third problem with reducing carbon emissions, which is that it requires worldwide behavioral change, which will be hard to achieve. But even beyond that, carbon mitigation is...

Freaked Out Over SuperFreakonomics Global warming might be solved with a helium balloon and a few miles of garden hose. By BRET STEPHENS Suppose for a minute—which is about 59 seconds too long, but that's for another column—that global warming poses an imminent threat to the survival of our species. Suppose, too, that the best solution involves a helium balloon, several miles of garden hose and a harmless stream of sulfur dioxide being pumped into the upper atmosphere, all at a cost of a single F-22 fighter jet. Good news, right? Maybe, but not if you're Al Gore or one...

We'll have to wait and see if the so-called outside-the-box thinking once praised by some of liberal media elites will get the same reception with this latest edition. In 2005, University of Chicago economist Steven Levitt and New York Times journalist Stephen J. Dubner released the book "Freakonomics" that provided cover for the pro-abortion movement in America by suggesting legalized abortion lowered crime and had a positive impact on society. However, in their new book "SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance," Levitt and Dubner blame what is generally accepted to be a liberal...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A new study offer more reasons for doubting the Freakonomics theory put forward by University of Chicago economist Steven Levitt that claims legalizing abortion reduced crime. The study shows a large rise in homicides by black teens in recent years even though black women have the highest abortion rate.Respected criminologist James Alan Fox of Northeastern University has released a new study showing homicides by blacks between the ages of 14 and 17 have jumped 34 percent from 2000 through 2007.The number of crimes for white people in the same age range did not increase.In the book...

Philadelphia, PA (LifeNews.com) -- The economist behind the disproved theory that legal abortions have led to a lowering of crime rates defended his notion. Freakonomics author Steven Levitt gave a lecture yesterday at the Penn Museum and said he's convinced the theory is correct despite several studies showing otherwise.In introducing Levitt to the audience, Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences Rebecca Bushnell said Levitt's level of "celebrity" is "unusual" among academics.According to the Daily Pennsylvanian, Levitt said he had to come up with unusual ideas in order to separate himself from other economists."If you are not as...

On the flimsy pretext of this being the season when HS seniors get their college acceptances, a New York Times column has set about asking current college students about their plans for future sexual conquests. Stephen Dubner handed his 'Freakonomics' column over to his assistant, Nicole Tourtelot, this week. She asked five collegians five questions. Three of them were innocuous: who's paying for your education, how do you view cigarette smoking, what's your dream job? But then came: * How many more people do you think you’ll sleep with before you get married? * How many would you like to?

Researchers have concluded in a yet-to-be published study of the economics of prostitution in Chicago that the women claim they were forced to service police officers, worked more on holidays and varied pricing based on race. University of Chicago professor and "Freakonomics" author Steven D. Levitt and sociology professor Sudhir Venkatesh of Columbia University are the authors of the two-year study of street-level prostitution in Chicago's Roseland, Washington Park and Pullman neighborhoods. ... Prostitutes taking part in the study — who were paid $150 a week — reported that about 3 percent of the sex acts they performed were "freebies"...

Best-selling author's early findings about street-level prostitution draw criticism from local social workers A two-year study of the economics of prostitution in Chicago found the women were forced to service police officers, worked more during holidays like July 4th and varied pricing based on their customer's race, according to a preliminary paper presented by the researchers. University of Chicago professor and "Freakonomics" author Steven D. Levitt and sociology professor Sudhir Venkatesh of Columbia University organized a two-year study of street-level prostitution in the Roseland and Pullman neighborhoods. The study, which ended in May, also included Washington Park for about 8...

RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia is still for lovers, but the state's tourism agency will eliminate images of people making heart symbols with their hands in its upcoming advertising campaign because the gesture is also used by a violent street gang. The Virginia is for Lovers "Live Passionately" campaign will remove images of models making the hand gesture, one of several signs associated with the Gangster Disciples, Virginia Tourism Corp. officials said Friday. The gesture shows thumbs and index fingers formed into a heart. "Our intent was to show people using their hands to make a heart to signify 'Virginia is...

of 6 people found the following review helpful: More than just three cheers for the free market., June 28, 2007 By  Douglas W. Allen - See all my reviews    I'm a professor of economics, and I'm very familiar with the work of John Lott. I bought this book because I enjoy reading arm-chair econ books ... just can't get enough econ! Normally I'm disappointed because the examples and applications are usually stolen and reworked material that's been around for years. Not so with Lott's book. The great thing about the book is not just the refreshing topics, but...

WASHINGTON, August 10, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A book published in June by a leading US economist in part responds to previous and oft-quoted claims that abortion has been a significant factor in lowering the U.S. crime rate. The book by John R. Lott of the American Enterprise Institute, "Freedomnomics," answers claims by liberal economist Steven Levitt that abortion, in reducing the number of "unwanted" children, has eliminated significant numbers of the kind of people who commit crimes. Lott's 2001 study, "Abortion and Crime: Unwanted Children and Out-of-Wedlock Births" concluded that legalized abortion has in fact increased the overall violent...

Freedom Is Not Free by: Matt Hadro, August 08, 2007 This cliché of government intervention might not be the effective long-term solution for the economy that many trust it to be. John R. Lott, Jr., PhD, author of the newly-published book Freedomnomics: Why the Free Market Works and Other Half-Baked Theories Don’t, believes that government intervention into a free market can adversely affect the economy. Lott further maintains that many so-called “market failures” actually become profit opportunities for those people who work to solve the problems. Dr. Lott was at the Heritage Foundation last Wednesday to discuss his book and...