Modernity as a Children's Paradise By Bryan Caplan

If you based your worldview on fictional television programs, you would conclude that life was a lot better for kids back in the fifties. Nothing seriously bad ever happens to kids on Leave It to Beaver. But on shows like Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, innocent children meet one grotesque fate after another. If we could only go back to the good old days, it seems, kids would be safe, and parents could sleep well at night.

In chapter 4 of my next book, I compare this “television reality” to actual reality. Using standard official statistics, I’ve compiled U.S. youth mortality rates for 1950 versus 2005. I break the results down by disease, accidents, war, homicide, and suicide. Here are my initial results: