2013/03/08 by Manudeep Bhuller, M. Bhuller, Tarjei Havnes +5 · 211 citations
Computer Science · Medicine · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Advertising #Broadband #Business #Child pornography #Computer science #Criminology #Cybercrime and Law Enforcement Studies #Demographic economics #Econometrics #Economics #Information superhighway #Instrumental variable #Internet access #Law #Matching (statistics) #Media Influence and Politics #Medicine #Norwegian #Political science #Pornography #Propensity score matching #Psychology #Sexuality, Behavior, and Technology #The Internet
paper · doi:10.1093/restud/rdt013
published in The Review of Economic Studies 80(4), 1237-1266 (Oxford University Press)
openalex publication_date 2013/03/08 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
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 estimates show that internet use is associated with a substantial increase in both reports, charges and convictions of rape and other sex crimes. We present a conceptual 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 sex crime propensity. To investigate the importance of these mechanisms, we use data on individual reporting behaviour, police investigations, and criminal charges and convictions. None of the analyses we perform suggest that the positive relationship between internet use and sex crime is driven by changes in reporting behaviour. Our findings suggest that the direct effect on sex crime propensity is positive and non-negligible, possibly as a result of increased consumption of pornography.