Held fire: America’s murder rate slips
The Intelligence from The Economist
The Economist
4.5 • 3.7K Ratings
🗓️ 4 September 2023
⏱️ 22 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The absolute numbers remain troubling but a close look at statistics reveals that, across American cities, fewer people are being killed. That democracy is good for a country’s economy is taken as orthodoxy—but given the time and costs to make the transition, the reality is a bit more complicated (09:38). And why Britain’s government is in hock to the country’s hobbyists (15:38).
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to the Intelligence from the Economist. |
| 0:06.8 | I'm Jason Palmer and I'm Aura Ogumbi. |
| 0:10.2 | Every weekday we provide a fresh perspective in events shaping your world. |
| 0:17.8 | There's a widely held idea, not least within the Economist, that democratically run countries |
| 0:23.1 | are better off economically. |
| 0:25.3 | True it may be, but immediate it is not. |
| 0:28.7 | All run elections are pricey, and building robust democratic institutions takes time |
| 0:33.9 | and cash. |
| 0:37.2 | And the Brits that don't joke about their hobbies. |
| 0:40.7 | From shooting birds to wild swimming, passionate hobbyists, or some might say hobby lobbies, |
| 0:47.3 | have become a real pain for the government. |
| 0:50.1 | We explain why. |
| 0:55.8 | We'll stop though. |
| 1:01.1 | Police say three people were shot on the city's west side. |
| 1:04.4 | This was the scene last night near Madison and Liemington. |
| 1:07.8 | Details about the shooting still unclear. |
| 1:10.5 | All victims were taken to the hospital at least one. |
| 1:13.8 | On Friday, a lethal drive-by shooting on West 38th Street, less than an hour later, a shooting |
| 1:19.7 | fatality on South Wentworth Street. |
| 1:22.7 | On Saturday, a man was found dead on West 58th, with gunshot wounds to the chest. |
| 1:28.8 | Later that day, on West Madison, a motorist strikes a man who then pulls a gun and shoots |
| 1:33.6 | the driver multiple times, killing him. |
... |
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