2,621 research outputs found
Measurement Error, Legalized Abortion, and the Decline in Crime: A Response to Foote and Goetz (2005)
Donohue and Levitt (2001) argue that the legalization of abortion in the United States in the 1970s played an important role in explaining the observed decline in crime approximately two decades later. Foote and Goetz (2005) challenge the results presented in one of the tables in that original paper. In this reply, we regretfully acknowledge the omission of state-year interactions in the published version of that table, but show that their inclusion does not alter the qualitative results (or their statistical significance), although it does reduce the magnitude of the estimates. When one uses a more carefully constructed measure of abortion (e.g. one that takes into account cross-state mobility, or doing a better job of matching dates of birth to abortion exposure), however, the evidence in support of the abortion-crime hypothesis is as strong or stronger than suggested in our original work.
Further Evidence that Legalized Abortion Lowered Crime: A Reply to Joyce
Donohue and Levitt (2001) present a number of analyses that suggest a causal link between legalized abortion and reductions in crime almost two decades later when the cohorts exposed to legalized abortion reach their peak crime years. Joyce (2003) challenges that finding. In this paper, we demonstrate that Joyce's failure to uncover a negative relationship between abortion and crime is a direct consequence of his decision to focus exclusively on the six-year period 1985-90 without including adequate controls for the crack epidemic. We provide empirical evidence that crack hit the high-abortion early legalizing states harder and earlier. We then demonstrate that using precisely the same treatment and control groups as Joyce, but extending the data analysis to encompass the lifetime criminal experiences (as opposed to an arbitrary six-year window), the evidence strongly supports the hypothesis that legalized abortion reduces crime. We also show that our original results are robust to focusing on only the cohorts born immediately before or after Roe v. Wade. The data suggest that ease of access to abortion, rather than simply de jure legalization, is a critical determinant of the extent of the crime reduction.
A Two-Dimensional, Self-Consistent Model of Galactic Cosmic Rays in the Heliosphere
We present initial results from our new two-dimensional (radius and
latitude), self-consistent model of galactic cosmic rays in the heliosphere. We
focus on the latitudinal variations in the solar wind flow caused by the
energetic particles. Among other things our results show that the cosmic rays
significantly modify the latitudinal structure of the solar wind flow
downstream of the termination shock. Specifically, for A>0 (corresponding to
the present solar minimum) the wind beyond the shock is driven towards the
equator, resulting in a faster wind flow near the current sheet, while for A<0
the effect is reversed and the wind turns towards the pole, with a faster flow
at high latitudes. We attribute this effect to the latitudinal gradients in the
cosmic ray pressure, caused by drifts, that squeeze the flow towards the
ecliptic plane or the pole, respectively.Comment: 10 pages, 4 Postscript figures, uses AAS LaTeX v4.0, to be published
in The Astrophysical Journal Letter
Axial anomaly and magnetism of nuclear and quark matter
We consider the response of the QCD ground state at finite baryon density to
a strong magnetic field B. We point out the dominant role played by the
coupling of neutral Goldstone bosons, such as pi^0, to the magnetic field via
the axial triangle anomaly. We show that, in vacuum, above a value of B ~
m_pi^2/e, a metastable object appears - the pi^0 domain wall. Because of the
axial anomaly, the wall carries a baryon number surface density proportional to
B. As a result, for B ~ 10^{19} G a stack of parallel pi^0 domain walls is
energetically more favorable than nuclear matter at the same density.
Similarly, at higher densities, somewhat weaker magnetic fields of order B ~
10^{17}-10^{18} G transform the color-superconducting ground state of QCD into
new phases containing stacks of axial isoscalar (eta or eta') domain walls. We
also show that a quark-matter state known as ``Goldstone current state,'' in
which a gradient of a Goldstone field is spontaneously generated, is
ferromagnetic due to the axial anomaly. We estimate the size of the fields
created by such a state in a typical neutron star to be of order
10^{14}-10^{15} G.Comment: 18 pages, v2: added a discussion of the energy cost of neutralizing
the domain wall charg
Zero-temperature generalized phase diagram of the 4d transition metals under pressure
We use an accurate implementation of density functional theory (DFT) to
calculate the zero-temperature generalized phase diagram of the 4 series of
transition metals from Y to Pd as a function of pressure and atomic number
. The implementation used is full-potential linearized augmented plane waves
(FP-LAPW), and we employ the exchange-correlation functional recently developed
by Wu and Cohen. For each element, we obtain the ground-state energy for
several crystal structures over a range of volumes, the energy being converged
with respect to all technical parameters to within meV/atom. The
calculated transition pressures for all the elements and all transitions we
have found are compared with experiment wherever possible, and we discuss the
origin of the significant discrepancies. Agreement with experiment for the
zero-temperature equation of state is generally excellent. The generalized
phase diagram of the 4 series shows that the major boundaries slope towards
lower with increasing for the early elements, as expected from the
pressure induced transfer of electrons from states to states, but are
almost independent of for the later elements. Our results for Mo indicate a
transition from bcc to fcc, rather than the bcc-hcp transition expected from
- transfer.Comment: 28 pages and 10 figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev.
Aerothermodynamic radiation studies
We have built and made operational a 6 in. electric arc driven shock tube which alloys us to study the non-equilibrium radiation and kinetics of low pressure (0.1 to 1 torr) gases processed by 6 to 12 km/s shock waves. The diagnostic system allows simultaneous monitoring of shock radiation temporal histories by a bank of up to six radiometers, and spectral histories with two optical multi-channel analyzers. A data set of eight shots was assembled, comprising shocks in N2 and air at pressures between 0.1 and 1 torr and velocities of 6 to 12 km/s. Spectrally resolved data was taken in both the non-equilibrium and equilibrium shock regions on all shots. The present data appear to be the first spectrally resolved shock radiation measurements in N2 performed at 12 km/s. The data base was partially analyzed with salient features identified
American Policy British Politics: Whole of Life Imprisonment and Transatlantic Influence
Since the abolition of the death penalty, life imprisonment in England and Wales has had a literal meaning with exceptional rarity. Now though, in the rejection of perceived interference by the European Court of Human Rights in domestic sentencing, the politics of whole of life imprisonment have become exposed, specifically, in the widening applicability of the tariff to those who kill police officers or prison guards. Borrowing from the politics of capital punishment in the USA, in both ‘acting out’ after a particular crime, and the prioritising of victim groups, the most severe penalty in England and Wales is increasingly beginning to mirror how the most severe punishment across the Atlantic is used, represented, and politicised
High-pressure study on the superconducting pyrochlore oxide Cd2Re2O7
Superconducting and structural phase transitions in a pyrochlore oxide
Cd2Re2O7 are studied under high pressure by x-ray diffraction and electrical
resistivity measurements. A rich P-T phase diagram is obtained, which contains
at least two phases with the ideal and slightly distorted pyrochlore
structures. It is found that the transition between them is suppressed with
increasing pressure and finally disappears at a critical pressure Pc = 3.5 GPa.
Remarkable enhancements in the residual resistivity as well as the coefficient
A of the AT 2 term in the resistivity are found around the critical pressure.
Superconductivity is detected only for the phase with the structural
distortion. It is suggested that the charge fluctuations of Re ions play a
crucial role in determining the electronic properties of Cd2Re2O7.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, submitted to J. Phys. Soc. Jp
Management of the South Coast Purse Seine Fishery
This paper has presented a strategy for moving the management of the small pelagics fishery off the south coast to management of the whole fishery, which facilitates a more biologically sound and economically stable fishery
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