Great Performance !

But this diverse army of experts now marched out a phalanx of hypotheses to explain the drop in crime. A great many newspaper articles would be written on the subject. Their conclusions often hinged on which expert had most recently spoken to which reporter. Here, ranked by frequency of mention, are the crime-drop explanations cited in articles published from 1991 to 2001 in the ten largest-circulation papers in the LexisNexis database:

CRIME-DROP EXPLANATION NUMBER OF CITATIONS
1.
Innovative policing strategies52
2.
Increased reliance on prisons 47
3.
Changes in crack and other drug markets33
4.
Aging of the population32
5. Tougher gun control laws
32
6. Strong economy
28
7. Increased number of police
26
8. All other explanations (increased use of
34
capital punishment, concealed-weapons
laws, gun buybacks, and others)

If you are the sort of person who likes guessing games, you may wish to spend the next few moments pondering which of the preceding explanations seem to have merit and which don’t. Hint: of the seven major explanations on the list, only three can be shown to have contributed to the drop in crime. The others are, for the most part, figments of someone’s imagination, self-interest, or wishful thinking. Further hint: one of the greatest measurable causes of the crime drop does not appear on the list at all, for it didn’t receive a single newspaper mention.

Taken From : A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything