Economics 499: The Economics of Crime, spring 2013
Instructor: Prof. Jeremy A. Sandford
Office hour: M 2:00-2:50pm, 335L B&E, or by appointment
Lecture:
1:00-1:50pm MWF, BE 306
Homework #1, due
1/25/13
Homework #2, due
2/18/13, American murder mystery, When crime pays
Homework #3, due
3/22/13, Broken windows, What New York City owes James Q. Wilson, Broken
windows: New evidence from New York City and a five-city social experiment
Schedule
Wednesday, January 9: Introduction, description of crime
trends 1960-present in the US
Bureau of Justice Statistics report on homicide trends
Friday, January 11: Possible reasons for the 1990's decline
in US crime
reading: Levitt, Steven (2004), "Understanding why crime
fell in the 1990's: four factors that explain the decline, and six that do
not," Journal of Economic Perspectives, 18(1), 163-190
Monday, January 12: Abortion and crime
reading: Donohue, John and Steven Levitt (2004), "Further evidence that legalized abortion lowered
crime," Journal of Human Resources, 39(1), 29-49
Wednesday, January 14: Abortion and crime
reading: Donohue, John and Steven Levitt (2004), "Further evidence that legalized abortion lowered
crime," Journal of Human Resources, 39(1), 29-49
Friday, January 16: Crack and lead
reading: Szalavitz, Maia, 5/11/1999, "Cracked
up," salon.com
Drum, Kevin, 2013, "America's real criminal element: lead,"
January/February 2013 issue, Mother Jones
optional readings: Manzi, Jim 1/10/13, "Lead and crime", National Review
Drum, Kevin, various dates "Lead and crime linkfest", Mother Jones
Monday, January 21: Martin Luther King day (academic holiday)
Wednesday, January 23: The economic model of crime:
criminals
respond to incentives
reading: Ehrlich, Isaac (1996), "Crime, punishment,
and the market for offenses," The Journal of Economic Perspectives,
10(1), 43-67
Friday, January 25: The economic model of crime
reading: Wilson, James (1983), "Thinking about crime," September 1983 issue, The
Atlantic
Monday, January 28: econometrics review: interpreting regression results
Wednesday, January 30: econometrics review: omitted variable bias
Friday, February 1: Demographic determinants of crime: who
commits crimes?
reading: Blumstein, Alfred and Jacqueline Cohen (1987), "Characterizing criminal careers," Science,
238(4818), 985-991
Monday, February 4: Immigration and crime
reading: Cowan, Tyler, 2/20/2010, "Latino immigrants and crime," Marginal
revolution blog
Sampson, Robert, 3/11/2006, "Open doors don't invite criminals," The New York
Times
Uniz, Ron, 3/1/2010, "His-Panic," The American Conservative
Wednesday, February 6: Economic determinants of crime:
education
reading: Lochner, Lance and Enrico Moretti (2004), "The effect of
education on crime: evidence from prison inmates, arrests, and
self-reports,"
American Economic Review, 94(1), 155-189
Friday, February 8: Economic determinants of crime:
education
reading: Lochner, Lance and Enrico Moretti (2004), "The effect of
education on crime: evidence from prison inmates, arrests, and
self-reports,"
American Economic Review, 94(1), 155-189
Monday, February 11: debate #1
Wednesday, February 13: debate #2
Friday, February 15: debate #3
Monday, February 18: Do police reduce crime?
Levitt, Steven (1997), "Using electoral cycles in police hiring to
estimate the effect of police on crime," American Economic Review,
87(3), 270-290
Wednesday, February 20: Terror alert levels as an instrument
for police hiring
reading: Klick, Jonathan and Alexander Tabarrok (2005), "Using
terror alert
levels to estimate the effect of police on crime," Journal of Law and
Economics, 48(1), 267-279
Friday, February 22: Police and crime
reading: Klick, Jonathan and Alexander Tabarrok (2005), "Using
terror alert
levels to estimate the effect of police on crime," Journal of Law and
Economics, 48(1), 267-279
Monday, February 25: The death penalty as a deterrent
readings: Ehrich, Isaac (1975), "The deterrent effect
of capital punishment: a question of life and death," American Economic
Review, 65(3), 397-417
Donohue, John and Justin Wolfers (2005), "Uses and Abuses of
Empirical Evidence in the Death
Penalty Debate
," Stanford Law Review, 58, 791-845
Wednesday, February 27: Katz, Lawrence, Steven Levitt, and Ellen Shustorovich (2003), "Prison conditions, capital punishment, and deterrence," American Economic Review, 5(2), 318-343
Friday, March 1: Becker, Gary and Richard Posner, "More on the economics of capital punishment," "The economics of capital punishment," "Further comments on capital punishment," 12/18/2005, 12/25/2005, Becker-Posner Blog
Monday, March 4: debate #4
Wednesday, March 6: debate #5
Friday, March 8: debate #6
Monday, March 11: no class (spring break)
Wednesday, March 13: no class (spring break)
Friday, March 15: no class (spring break)
Monday, March 18: Prison conditions and recidividism
reading: Chen, Keith, and Jesse Shapiro, (2007), "Do harsher prison conditions reduce recidivism? A
discontinuity-based approach", American Law and Economics Review,
9(1), pp1-29
Wednesday, March 20: Prison conditions and recidividism
reading: Chen, Keith, and Jesse Shapiro, (2007), "Do harsher prison conditions reduce recidivism? A
discontinuity-based approach", American Law and Economics Review,
9(1), pp1-29
Friday, March 22: Mandatory office hours (sign up for a time in class or via email)
Monday, March 25: Mandatory office hours (sign up for a time in class or via email)
Wednesday, March 27: Number of guns and the crime rate
reading: Duggan, Mark, (2001), "More guns, more crime,"
Journal of Political Economy, 109, 1086-1114
reading (skim, enough to get main ideas): Lott, John and David Mustard,
(1997), "Crime, deterrence, and right-to-carry
concealed handguns," Journal of Legal Studies, XXVI, 1-68
Friday, March 29: Number of guns and the crime rate
reading: Duggan, Mark, (2001), "More guns, more crime,"
Journal of Political Economy, 109, 1086-1114
reading (skim, enough to get main ideas): Lott, John and David Mustard,
(1997), "Crime, deterrence, and right-to-carry
concealed handguns," Journal of Legal Studies, XXVI, 1-68
Monday, April 1: debate #7
Wednesday, April 3: debate #8
Friday, April 5: debate #9
Monday, April 8: debate #10
Wednesday, April 10: The social costs of gun ownership
reading: Cook, Phillip and Jens Ludwig, (2006), "The social costs of gun ownership," Journal of Public
Economics, 90, 379-391
Friday, April 12: Arguments for and against gun control
reading: Jeffrey Goldberg, The case for more guns (and
more gun control), The Atlantic, November 28, 2012
Ta-Nehisi Coates and Jeffrey Goldberg, More guns, less crime: a dialogue,
The Atlantic, December 26, 2012
Sam Harris, The riddle of the gun, samharris.org
blog, January 2, 2013
Monday, April 15: mandatory office hours (no class meeting)
sign up for a time in class or via email to discuss your paper
Wednesday, April 17: mandatory office hours (no class
meeting)
sign up for a time in class or via email to discuss your paper
Friday, April 19: A drug gang's finances
reading: Levitt, S. and S. Venkatsh (2000), "An economic analysis
of a drug-selling gang's finances," Quarterly Journal of Economics,
115, pp. 755-789
Monday, April 22: A drug gang's finances
reading: Levitt, S. and S. Venkatsh (2000), "An economic analysis
of a drug-selling gang's finances," Quarterly Journal of Economics,
115, pp. 755-789