1. Renaissance man - December 11, 2009

   Let’s see. Since 1973, as the abortion rate goes up, the crime rate goes down. Do abortions, then, cause a decline in the crime rate? That is the authors’ claim. Since 1973, Americans have consumed more cola. Does cola consumption cause a decline in crime, as I am now arguing? Think about it. As people’s bellies are fully of the bubbly, they are more bouncy, not wanting to bop boys on their brains. Both the abortion rate and the cola rate correlate inversely with the crime rate. Which, if either one, has a strong, I mean a knock your stinky socks off strong, negative correlation with reduced crime? You see, many things correlate with reduced crime, but not all are strong enough to be truly important. If one was ever scientifically fortunate enough to show a cause to reduced crime, that person might have a best selling book and become rich and appear on talk shows. Cause and effect. How, then, do we go about studying that? We have two proposed strong causes to the reduced crime rate: the increased abortion rate and the increased consumption of liquid candy. To test the two hypotheses, that either abortion or cola consumption causes a decline in crime, we would have to do an actual experiment, not play silly games with correlational statistics. Let’s see. We’ll randomly assign 100 women to an experimental condition, where they have an abortion. We will randomly assign another 100 women to a control condition, where they will give birth to their children. Now we can compare the 100 children in the experimental group with the 100 children in the control group to see which group commits more crime. Whoops! I forgot. The 100 children in the experimental group are dead. How can they bop boys on the brain now? Does this mean that we can’t even discuss cause and effect here? Whooooo. How, then, can the authors talk about cause and effect for abortion and crime? Are their brains bopped?? No genuine science here.
   Rating: 1 / 5

2. Jack Dempsey - December 11, 2009

   Let’s see, what other esoteric aspects of life can we consider as having some sort of “impact?” This author is absolutely ridiculous as are his notions. It speaks volumes that he is boasted by such fools as Malcolm Gladwell. Volumes. Roe v. Wade having an impact? Can’t wait to see what sort of impact the new gun-totin’ laws here in Florida are going to have on crime. Then, maybe this author can draft a “revised” edition of this book, with new indicies, which, of course, will all be eaten up by the rank and file. “Wow, oh, gosh, oh golly, oh gee, I never thought of that.” Let’s plug two totally unrelated things, try to bridge some sort of relationship, no matter how strained, then call them related. By the way, if it’s the “hidden side” of things as the by-line suggests, how did this fool even find them? At any rate, this game is an old one and has been played several times before. Some may recall it by the name of “Six Degrees of…”, for instance, “Kevin Bacon.” There’s an idea, maybe Kevin Bacon has a hand in *this* as well.

   Move on from this book people. Develop some taste and quit funding the pocketbook of janus snake-oil guys such as this.
   Rating: 1 / 5

3. NEC - December 11, 2009

   Though many of the topics covered here are truly fascinating and eye-opening, the ill-conceived argument that abortion reduces crime makes me skeptical about the book as a whole. Levitt bases his argument on some previously debunked assumptions and fails to take into account a number of additional factors. It’s the economic equivalent of saying increased ice cream sales lead to increased crime. Fun to mull some of these things over, but c’mon, let’s not simplify things to the point where you mislead your uneducated readers.
   Rating: 2 / 5

4. a reader - December 11, 2009

   Everyone’s favorite parlor game, what effect did legalized abortion have on demographics, etc., is played at one point in this book. Another famous theory is James Taranto’s “Roe effect”. The problem with this one is that Steve Sailer did a total debunking of it. I agree with an earlier post; if you find the earlier Slate archives, it appears no evisceration took place, but Slate left off Sailer’s final and devastating response; see Sailer’s blog. I can’t believe the author included this contention in his book, but it’s been said he is proud.
   Rating: 1 / 5

5. Gerard - December 11, 2009

   What gall to clam that everything is hidden! I see now that this is not the case. Even at home, I find things all over the house.

   The economic disaster that is American economy, that is NOT hidden. So, I look at this book at local small bookstore. I see that there is an apple on the front so I think — cookbook! And for apples is the best.

   Then no apples or recipes. Only things that are not true about the world around us.

   My cave is dark, jah and I have Sterno, jah. But not for heat! Margaritas of Sterno with mint leafs like New Orleans. Well what was of New Orleans before Katrina made Bush look like a drinker of the STERNO!

   My economy helps yours, so read this book. No peanut buuter.
   Rating: 1 / 5

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