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The Impact of Abortion on Crime and Crime-Related Behavior

Author

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  • Hjalmarsson, Randi

    (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University)

  • Mitrut, Andreea

    (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University)

  • Pop-Eleches, Cristian

    (SIPA, Columbia University, USA)

Abstract

The 1966 abolition and 1989 legalization of abortion in Romania immediately doubled and decreased by about a third the number of births per month, respectively. To isolate the link between abortion access and crime while abstracting from cohort and general equilibrium effects, we compare birth month cohorts on either side of the abortion regime. For both the abolition and legalization of abortion, we find large and significant effects on the level of crime and risky-behavior related hospitalization, but an insignificant effect on crime and hospitalization rates (i.e. when normalizing by the size of the birth month cohort). In other words, the Romanian abortion reforms did affect crime, but all of the effect appears to be driven by cohort size effects rather than selection or unwantedness effects.

Suggested Citation

  • Hjalmarsson, Randi & Mitrut, Andreea & Pop-Eleches, Cristian, 2019. "The Impact of Abortion on Crime and Crime-Related Behavior," Working Papers in Economics 769, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0769
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    Cited by:

    1. Chevalier, Arnaud & Marie, Olivier, 2024. "Risky moms, risky kids? fertility and crime after the fall of the wall," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).
    2. Gábor Hajdu & Tamás Hajdu, 2021. "The long-term impact of restricted access to abortion on children’s socioeconomic outcomes," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(3), pages 1-14, March.
    3. Pieroni, Luca & Roig, Melcior Rosselló & Salmasi, Luca & Turati, Gilberto, 2025. "Legal status and voluntary abortions by immigrants," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    4. Clarke, Damian, 2023. "The Economics of Abortion Policy," IZA Discussion Papers 16395, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J18 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Public Policy
    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law

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