Título: Steven Levitt
Seção: The impact of legalized abortion on crime
Background: Steven David "Steve" Levitt (born May 29, 1967) is an American economist known for his work in the field of crime, in particular on the link between legalized abortion and crime rates. Winner of the 2003 John Bates Clark Medal, he is currently the William B. Ogden Distinguished Service Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago, director of the Becker Center on Chicago Price Theory at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He was co-editor of the Journal of Political Economy published by the University of Chicago Press until December 2007. With journalist Stephen J. Dubner, he co-authored the best-selling book Freakonomics (2005) and its sequels SuperFreakonomics (2009)

Conteúdo: See The Impact of Legalized Abortion on Crime for a detailed discussion of the issue.  Revisiting a question first studied empirically in the 1960s, Donohue and Levitt argued that the legalization of abortion can account for almost half of the reduction in crime witnessed in the 1990s. This paper has sparked much controversy, to which Levitt has said  "The numbers we're talking about, in terms of crime, are absolutely trivial when you compare it to the broader debate on abortion. From a pro-life view of the world: If abortion is murder then we have a million murders a year through abortion. And the few thousand homicides that will be prevented according to our analysis are just nothing--they are a pebble in the ocean relative to the tragedy that is abortion. So, my own view, when we [did] the study and it hasn't changed is that: our study shouldn't change anybody's opinion about whether abortion should be legal and easily available or not. It's really a study about crime, not abortion."  In 2003, Theodore Joyce argued that legalized abortion had little impact on crime, contradicting Donohue and Levitt's results ("Did Legalized Abortion Lower Crime?" Journal of Human Resources, 2003, 38(1), pp. 1 -37.). In 2004, the authors published a response, in which they claimed Joyce's argument was flawed due to omitted-variable bias.  In November 2005, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston economist Christopher Foote and his research assistant Christopher Goetz, published a working paper, in w

user: What kind of impact did legalized abortion have on crime?

assistant: From a pro-life view of the world: If abortion is murder then we have a million murders a year through abortion.

user: Did abortion affect the crime rate in any other way?

assistant: And the few thousand homicides that will be prevented according to our analysis are just nothing--they are a pebble in the ocean relative to the tragedy that is abortion.

user: Who opposed the abortion movement?

assistant: CANNOTANSWER

user: What percentage did crime go up?

assistant: CANNOTANSWER

user: What other impact did legalized abortion have on crime?

assistant: In 2003, Theodore Joyce argued that legalized abortion had little impact on crime,

user: Did he make any headway in the argument legally or otherwise?

assistant: In 2004, the authors published a response, in which they claimed Joyce's argument was flawed due to omitted-variable bias.