The Effects of Social Movements: Evidence from #MeToo

Social movements are associated with large societal changes, but evidence of their causal effects is limited. We study the effect of the MeToo movement on an important personal decision—reporting a sex crime to the police. Victims often do not report sex crimes due to the personal costs involved, but the reporting of sex crimes can have positive externalities and therefore, improve social welfare. Using a difference-in-differences strategy comparing sex crimes and non-sex crimes before and after the MeToo movement started, we find that the movement increased the number of sex crimes reported by approximately 10% and that the effect persisted until the end of our data, 15-27 months after the movement started. The result is confirmed using a triple-difference strategy comparing countries with strong and weak MeToo movements. Using detailed US data, we show that the MeToo movement not only increased reporting but also increased arrests for sexual assaults; and that in contrast to a common criticism of the movement, the effects are similar across racial and socioeconomic groups. Based on additional survey and crime data, we find that the increased reporting reflects a higher propensity to report sex crimes rather than an increase in the incidence of sex crimes. Our results demonstrate that social movements can rapidly and persistently change high-stakes decisions.