Root cause of misery that brings death to innocents

IN the aftermath of Shane Geoghegan’s tragic death, I believe the work of George Akerlof helps to explain much of what has been happening in Limerick city. Akerlof is professor of economics at the University of California Berkeley and a Nobel prizewinner.

He asked why there was so much crime and violence in American inner cities and concluded that with the arrival of contraception young men in these areas asked young women for sex on the understanding that there would be no babies and no marriage.

The women were forced to agree and then inevitably the unwanted pregnancies began. Akerlof noted, correctly, that more contraception meant more unwanted pregnancies.