The impact of abortion on crime and crime-related behavior

Randi Hjalmarsson; Andreea Mitrut; Cristian Pop-Eleches

doi:10.1016/j.jpubeco.2021.104468

The impact of abortion on crime and crime-related behavior

Randi Hjalmarsson, Andreea Mitrut, Cristian Pop-Eleches

Economics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The 1966 abolition and 1989 legalization of abortion in Romania immediately doubled and decreased by about a third the number of births per month, respectively. Comparing birth month cohorts born on either side of the reform cut-offs allows us to cleanly identify the effect of abortion access on crime. For both the abolition and legalization of abortion, we find large and significant effects on the level of crime and risky-behavior related hospitalization, but insignificant effects on crime and hospitalization rates. We conclude with a discussion of what our results say about the mechanisms underlying the crime effects of abortion policy.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	104468
Journal	Journal of Public Economics
Volume	200
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2021.104468
State	Published - Aug 2021

Keywords

Abortion
Crime
Risky behavior

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Finance
Economics and Econometrics

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10.1016/j.jpubeco.2021.104468

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abstract = "The 1966 abolition and 1989 legalization of abortion in Romania immediately doubled and decreased by about a third the number of births per month, respectively. Comparing birth month cohorts born on either side of the reform cut-offs allows us to cleanly identify the effect of abortion access on crime. For both the abolition and legalization of abortion, we find large and significant effects on the level of crime and risky-behavior related hospitalization, but insignificant effects on crime and hospitalization rates. We conclude with a discussion of what our results say about the mechanisms underlying the crime effects of abortion policy.",

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AB - The 1966 abolition and 1989 legalization of abortion in Romania immediately doubled and decreased by about a third the number of births per month, respectively. Comparing birth month cohorts born on either side of the reform cut-offs allows us to cleanly identify the effect of abortion access on crime. For both the abolition and legalization of abortion, we find large and significant effects on the level of crime and risky-behavior related hospitalization, but insignificant effects on crime and hospitalization rates. We conclude with a discussion of what our results say about the mechanisms underlying the crime effects of abortion policy.

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KW - Risky behavior

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The impact of abortion on crime and crime-related behavior

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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