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ABORTION AND CRIME: UNWANTED CHILDREN AND OUT‐OF‐WEDLOCK BIRTHS
Author(s) -
LOTT JOHN R.,
WHITLEY JOHN
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
economic inquiry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.823
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1465-7295
pISSN - 0095-2583
DOI - 10.1111/j.1465-7295.2006.00040.x
Subject(s) - abortion , legalization , economics , human capital , demographic economics , law , political science , economic growth , pregnancy , biology , genetics
Legalizing abortion can either increase or decrease investments in children’s human capital. This article finds that abortion increases the number of out‐of‐wedlock births. Using data that more directly links the criminal with age when the crime was committed, not age when arrested, and fixing the assumption in previous research that no abortions took place prior to the Roe v. Wade decision in the 45 states affected by that decision, we find consistent significant evidence that legalizing abortions increased murders by over 7%. Linear estimates indicate that legalization increased total annual victimization costs by at least $3.2 billion. ( JEL K42, K14, J24)