Becker, Prostitution, and Crime

Recently I have been thinking about how crime and economics are related. Dr. Gary Becker is known for his work within crime and economics. Dr. Becker has also won a Nobel Prize in Economics for using economics to understand how criminals think. Becker argues that criminals like the rest of us are rational. Criminals have to weigh the benefits with the cost of robbing, stealing, or whatever other criminal activity is involved. If you were a criminal you have to divide your time between criminal behavior and legitimate behavior. Also, if crime is profitable criminals will continue to engage in theft, robbery, and other types of deviant activity. However, if a criminal could become harmed or killed in the act of performing a crime then they are less likely to commit a crime. John Lott Jr. has done extensive research in gun right and has shown that more guns do equal less crime. Becker believes that the crime rate can never be 0% however. Clearly, it would be very expensive to have cops and surveillance cameras on every corner.

Although, I would like to point there are some simple things America could do to reduce the crime rate. First, why not get rid of the minimum wage? If the minimum wage was repealed then more people would be working and making money which could impose opportunity costs on criminals since they could have a job (even if it was low paying) as opposed to committing crimes. Secondly, I would decriminalize all drugs (even prescription drugs). Since there is a black market for drugs the prices are artificially pushed up. According to the Druglibrary.org “the costs of marijuana, cocaine and heroin are about 100 times what they would be in a free market”. If these drugs were legalized the price would be pushed down which would decrease the incentive people to steal the drugs since they wouldn’t be worth as much. Prescription drugs should also be legalized. True, we might have more drug users but if these illicit drugs were legal we could study how to cure people that are addicted to these very drugs.

The FDA (Federal Drug Administration) regulates monitors, and controls, what drug and food companies say about their products. However, part of the problem is sometimes the FDA declines a drug due to certain side effects. Some of these drugs can be lifesaving however. Plus, people are not as dumb as the government believes. Legalizing prescription drugs would allow more drug testing and research and development to be performed which would lead to even better drugs. In addition to this, the price of drugs would also decrease because if drugs were sold in stores such as Walgreens or CVS the stores would have to be competitive driving down the price as opposed to insurance companies that decide what they should pay (if they pay at all) for certain types of drugs. Third, I would legalize prostitution. Recent research I have done has shown that the countries that have regulated legalized prostitution all have lower rape rates when compared to the United States. Prostitutes would also be less likely to be harmed since they could have legal protection if they went to the police. Also legalized prostitution would result in lower STD rates along with lower HIV and AIDS rates. Let’s assume prostitutes had to get a blood test ever month it would be widely known who had certain diseases and who didn’t. Right now this doesn’t exist because prostitution like the drug industry is an underground economy. Therefore, there isn’t perfect information. Some of these ideas I believe could work wonders in not only reducing crime but could also raise much needed revenue.

Economics can clearly be used for more than forecasting future GDP or what future interest rates might be. What is interesting is that economics can be used as a framework when dealing with type of issue that involves logic and critical reasoning skills.