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Measurement Error, Legalized Abortion, and the Decline in Crime: A Response to Foote and Goetz

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  • John J. Donohue III
  • Steven D. Levitt

Abstract

We are grateful to Foote and Goetz for noting that the final table of Donohue and Levitt (Quarterly Journal of Economics, 116 (2001), 379–420) inadvertently omitted state-year interactions. Correcting our mistake does not alter the sign or statistical significance of our estimates, although it does reduce their magnitude. Using a more carefully constructed measure of abortion that better links birth cohorts to abortion exposure (by using abortion data by state of residence rather than of occurrence, by adjusting for cross-state mobility, and by more precisely estimating birth years from age of arrest data), we present new evidence that abortion legalization reduces crime through both a cohort-size and a selection effect.

Suggested Citation

  • John J. Donohue III & Steven D. Levitt, 2008. "Measurement Error, Legalized Abortion, and the Decline in Crime: A Response to Foote and Goetz," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 123(1), pages 425-440.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:qjecon:v:123:y:2008:i:1:p:425-440.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1162/qjec.2008.123.1.425
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