The Annals of Crime

One writer's reaction to the NYT's dismay at declining crime during the recession. Small discussion (I've quoted it) on self-interested econ. Not the first time crime was used as a model either.

"I would never argue that economics is not an important -- and sometimes paramount -- factor in social behavior and, surely, a truly starving person will resort to crime, if need be. But the expectation that bad times will produce bad people is a consequence of the belief that social welfare programs will solve social welfare problems: the more you have of the former, the less you have of the latter. This is sometimes the case -- food stamps, etc., are a necessity -- but the belief that crime rises as budgets are cut is a fallacy. It infantilizes the poor: Without bread and circuses, they will riot.

The shock inherent in The New York Times story, the bafflement over crime rates that seem unaffected by unemployment, is a meme of the left. It has its roots in an admirable desire to help the less fortunate and to enlist government in that effort. It's no more perverse than the right's insistence that culture is everything and all social programs are a waste of money. But we have known for a long time that, if just from stories our parents and grandparents tell, hard times do not make hardened criminals. Robbers don't rob because they're out of work; they rob because robbery is the kind of work they do."

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