"It never occurred to us that anybody would be upset," he says. "I've done a lot of research. No one ever cares."
Some critics complained the study used limited data. Others claimed it misinterpreted numbers and made unfair comparisons.
"He's picking up the decline in crack and calling it the abortion effect," says Ted Joyce, an economics professor and expert on reproductive health policy at Baruch College in New York.
Joyce's own study found abortion had no measurable impact on crime.
Levitt took on another social issue when he teamed up with another researcher to develop a statistical method that found a small number of Chicago teachers cheated on standardized tests to help their students. Those findings led to disciplinary action.
Levitt is intrigued by incentives -- financial, moral and social, good and bad. And he found them in the wrestling ring. Levitt co-authored a study that analyzed the won-loss records of sumo wrestlers in tournaments and concluded the matches were rigged. Levitt says he didn't hear a peep from the Japanese press -- even after sending the findings to the Japanese version of the National Enquirer.
Levitt is now working with a foreign bank to analyze banking records to catch terrorists.
"I think following money is the wrong idea," he says. "I'm looking at something more mundane -- how they use banks, what kinds of transactions they do."
He's also studying the impact of crack-cocaine on society. And he knows there will be more repercussions ahead. Maybe even from that comparison of the Klan with real estate agents.
"We have not heard anyone complain," he says, then pauses. "My guess is that's coming."
RSS