I would like to thank Martha Chamallas and Michael Harper for their helpful and thought-provoking... more I would like to thank Martha Chamallas and Michael Harper for their helpful and thought-provoking comments on an earlier draft of this essay. I would also like to thank Stewart Schwab for useful conversations on the subject of this essay. NEw 95 (rev. ed. 1992).
We offer evidence that legalized abortion has contributed signi cantly to recent crime reductions... more We offer evidence that legalized abortion has contributed signi cantly to recent crime reductions. Crime began to fall roughly eighteen years after abortion legalization. The ve states that allowed abortion in 1970 experienced declines earlier than the rest of the nation, which legalized in 1973 with Roe v. Wade. States with high abortion rates in the 1970s and 1980s experienced greater crime reductions in the 1990s. In high abortion states, only arrests of those born after abortion legalization fall relative to low abortion states. Legalized abortion appears to account for as much as 50 percent of the recent drop in crime.
The Review of Economics and Statistics, May 1, 2006
We estimate the effects on employment and wages of wrongfuldischarge protections adopted by U.S. ... more We estimate the effects on employment and wages of wrongfuldischarge protections adopted by U.S. state courts during the last three decades. We find robust evidence that one wrongful-discharge doctrine, the implied-contract exception, reduced state employment rates by 0.8% to 1.7%. The initial impact is largest for female and less-educated workers (those who change jobs frequently), while the longer-term effect is greater for older and more-educated workers (those most likely to litigate). By contrast, we find no robust employment or wage effects of two other widely recognized wrongful-discharge laws: the public-policy and goodfaith exceptions.
Capital punishment is such a costly, controversial, and divisive issue that, unless it succeeds i... more Capital punishment is such a costly, controversial, and divisive issue that, unless it succeeds in saving lives, it clearly should be abolished -as it already has been in the European Union and in 101 countries around the world But does the death penalty save lives? Let's
Duke Journal of Constitutional Law & Public Policy, 2016
In his dissenting opinion in Glossip v. Gross, Justice Breyer attempted to give content to the Su... more In his dissenting opinion in Glossip v. Gross, Justice Breyer attempted to give content to the Supreme Court’s prior command in Atkins v. Virginia that unless the imposition of the death penalty “measurably contributes to one or both of [the legitimate penological goals of deterrence and retribution], it ‘is nothing more than the purposeless and needless imposition of pain and suffering,’ and hence an unconstitutional punishment.” Justice Breyer’s opinion illuminates the central role that empirical studies have played in death penalty litigation since Furman v. Georgia on issues ranging from the lack of deterrence associated with the death penalty; to racial and ethnic bias in its administration; to the extensive delays, cost, errors, and arbitrary implementation; and to the failure to limit capital punishment to the worst of the worst offenders. Two months after Glossip, the battle over the empirical evaluation of capital punishment played out in the contentious 4-3 decision in Sta...
Prior to the passage of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act,I individuals of substance argued ... more Prior to the passage of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act,I individuals of substance argued with great force that an essential element of freedom included the right of private employers to discriminate against blacks. Over the succeeding quarter century, these voices have lapsed into silence as the principle of equal opportunity in employment has been widely and enthusiastically endorsed, even by its former enemies. 2 To be sure, controversy continues to rage over questions of implementation of the antidiscrimination principle, 3 and serious legal, political, and academic objections are commonly marshalled against any form of preferential treatment or quota hiring. 4 But just as history seemed poised to render its verdict on the moral * Professor of Law, Northwestern University School of Law; Research Fellow, American Bar Foundation. This article was written while I was a visiting professor at the University of Chicago Law School. I would like to thank James Heckman, Peter Siegelman, David Strauss, and Cass Sunstein for their helpful comments. t James Parker Hall Professor of Law, University of Chicago. 1. 42 U.S.C. § 2000e (1988). 2. The transformation of George Bush from an opponent of Title VII in 1964 to an enthusiastic supporter-at least in words-of the principle of equal opportunity is typical. See text accompanying notes 65-68 infra. Consider the President's statement explaining his veto of the 1990 Civil Rights Act: "Discrimination, whether on the basis of race, national origin, sex, religion, or disability is worse than wrong. It is a fundamental evil that tears at the fabric of our society, and one that all Americans should and must oppose. That requires rigorous enforcement of existing antidiscrimination laws." President George Bush, Veto Message (Oct. 22, 1990). For an account of a similar intellectual transformation by Chief Justice William Rehnquist, see RICHARD SAVAGE, TURNING RIGHT: THE MAKING OF THE REHNQUIST SUPREME COURT (1992). 3. Much of the sparring between the Supreme Court and the President against Congress was of this character. While Congress wished to facilitate challenges to facially neutral employment practices that adversely affected minorities, the Supreme Court and the President wanted to curtail the reach of the disparate impact theory. See Wards Cove Packing Co. v. Atonio, 490 U.S. 642 (1989). 4. Every Supreme Court affirmative action decision that upholds employment decisions which are not color-blind or gender-neutral elicits harsh criticism. For a sampling of the academic criticism, see THOMAS SOWELL, DISCRIMINATION, AFFIRMATIVE ACTION, AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITY (1982).
There has been a profound shift in the legal landscape concerning firearms over the last forty ye... more There has been a profound shift in the legal landscape concerning firearms over the last forty years. Before then, substantial state restrictions—even complete prohibitions—on gun carrying were quite common, and they enjoyed considerable support among Republican voters and politicians. Today, the large majority of states confer the “right-to-carry” (RTC) with little or no restriction. After unwisely granting cert and proceeding with oral argument in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. City of New York, in which the U.S. Supreme Court was asked to create an individual right under the Second Amendment to carry guns outside the home, the Court chose to leave this question for another day.1 One argument frequently used to justify this expansion of the Second Amendment is that good guys with guns can quickly thwart mass shootings. Yet since the end of the federal assault weapons ban in 2004, deaths from mass shootings have been rising sharply even as lawful gun toting has incr...
for useful discussions and comments. The views expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do... more for useful discussions and comments. The views expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Deirdre McCloskey is discontented with the practice of economists. She dislikes that they follow ... more Deirdre McCloskey is discontented with the practice of economists. She dislikes that they follow Paul Samuelson instead of Adam Smith. In her opinion, it is a mistake-a mistake she, too, once committed. She once believed that the only character needed for understanding markets is "Mr. Maximum Utility, the monster of Prudence who has no place in his character for Love-or any passion beyond Prudence Only" (McCloskey 2006, 135). She, too, wrote articles populated by the "Max U-er obsessed with prudence" (2006, 375), "Max U, that unlovely maximizer of Utility, Homo prudens" (2010, 274). But she changed her mind and she invites others to follow her lead: Max U-a character fettered by the ends-means logic of Prudence Only (2006, 111) does not work, not even scientifically, she claims (135). Here I do not want to assess the working of Max U as an explanatory device. I focus on McCloskey's identification of Mr. Maximum Utility with prudence, an identification that permeates her work. 2 I do not think that works, either. The strategy I pursue is to contrast Max U with the man of prudence in Smith's The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759; hereafter TMS). The reason for singling Discuss this article at Journaltalk: http://journaltalk.net/articles/5784
for useful discussions and comments. The views expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do... more for useful discussions and comments. The views expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research.
This paper reviews the econometric issues in efforts to estimate the impact of the death penalty ... more This paper reviews the econometric issues in efforts to estimate the impact of the death penalty on murder, focusing on six recent studies published since 2003. We highlight the large number of choices that must be made when specifying the various panel data models that have been used to address this question. There is little clarity about the knowledge potential murderers have concerning the risk of execution: are they influenced by the passage of a death penalty statute, the number of executions in a state, the proportion of murders in a state that leads to an execution, and details about the limited types of murders that are potentially susceptible to a sentence of death? If an execution rate is a viable proxy, should it be calculated using the ratio of last year's executions to last year's murders, last year's executions to the murders a number of years earlier, or some other values? We illustrate how sensitive various estimates are to these choices. Importantly, the most up-to-date OLS panel data studies generate no evidence of a deterrent effect, while three 2SLS studies purport to find such evidence. The 2SLS studies, none of which shows results that are robust to clustering their standard errors, are unconvincing because they all use a problematic structure based on poorly measured and theoretically inappropriate pseudo-probabilities that are The authors gratefully acknowledge the helpful comments received from David Bjerk,
Uploads
Papers by John Donohue