Economics Medal Is Given
To Levitt for Crime Studies

The American Economic Association honored Steven Levitt, an offbeat University of Chicago economist, with its prestigious John Bates Clark medal, awarded every two years to a top economist under the age of 40.

Mr. Levitt, 35 years old, distinguished himself with detailed statistical studies on crime and corruption that have stretched the field in new and often unusual directions. His subjects have included teacher cheating at Chicago schools, corruption in Japanese sumo wrestling circles and the economics of gang life. One recent paper even looked for evidence of age and race discrimination in the "Weakest Link" television program.

"There is a method to my madness on those particular topics," Mr. Levitt said in an interview Friday. "They are windows into testing more fundamental economic ideas." Corruption, he notes, is hard to study because the people engaged in it cover their trails. That has left him searching for unusual ways to study and measure a very serious issue.

No area of his work has drawn more fire than a series of papers that looked at the social implications of abortion. Mr. Levitt argues his statistical studies show the legalization of abortion in the 1970s reduced the incidence of crime and teen pregnancy more than a decade later because it lowered the birth rate of unwanted children. Unwanted children are more prone to crime and teen pregnancy when they reach adulthood, he says. The research infuriated liberals and conservatives alike, but economists found it hard to ignore.

"His work on the causes of crime, and deterrence of crime, has greatly improved our understanding of important policy issues," said Avinash Dixit, a Princeton professor and chairman of the AEA's award committee. Mr. Levitt was featured in a page one profile in The Wall Street Journal¹ two years ago.

Eleven previous winners of the John Bates Clark medal, including Milton Friedman and Paul Samuelson, have gone on to win Nobel prizes in economics. Others, including Lawrence Summers and Joseph Stiglitz (also a Nobel laureate), have held important policy jobs.

Write to Jon E. Hilsenrath at jon.hilsenrath@wsj.com³

Updated April 28, 2003