TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Bhuller, Manudeep
AU  - Havnes, Tarjei
AU  - Leuven, Edwin
AU  - Mogstad, Magne
        TI  - Broadband Internet: An Information Superhighway to Sex Crime?
        PY  - 2011/Apr/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 5675
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp5675
        AB  - Does internet use trigger sex crime? We use unique Norwegian data on crime and internet adoption to shed light on this question. A public program with limited funding rolled out broadband access points in 2000-2008, and provides plausibly exogenous variation in internet use. Our instrumental variables and fixed effect estimates show that internet use is associated with a substantial increase in reported incidences of rape and other sex crimes. We present a theoretical framework that highlights three mechanisms for how internet use may affect reported sex crime, namely a reporting effect, a matching effect on potential offenders and victims, and a direct effect on crime propensity. Our results indicate that the direct effect is non-negligible and positive, plausibly as a result of increased consumption of pornography.
        KW  - pornography
KW  - sex crimes
KW  - instrumental variables
KW  - broadband
KW  - rape
KW  - internet
        ER  -