Professor of law, business, and public policy David S. Abrams recently published “COVID-19: An Early Empirical Look,” an Institute for Law and Economics research paper that analyzes the collected data from over 25 large cities in the U.S., documenting the short-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on crime.
Abrams is one of the country’s leading economists working in empirical law and economics.
His research has uncovered overall crime rate drops of over 35% in Pittsburgh, New York City, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Chicago. In Philadelphia, Abrams found “a drop in police stops and a rise in Black detainee share…which may reflect the racial composition of essential workers.”
Overall, Abrams’ research shows “a widespread immediate drop in both criminal incidents and arrests most heavily pronounced among drug crimes, theft, residential burglaries, and most violent crimes.” He notes that the decline occurred before most stay-at-home orders and coincided with a decline in individual mobility.
Read more at Penn Law News.
