Review of Economics and Statistics
The Effects of Social Movements: Evidence from #MeToo
2026-07-21
We study the effect of the MeToo movement on reports of sex crimes to the police. Using multiple empirical strategies, including a triple-difference design comparing crime types across countries and over time, we find that the movement increased reported sex crimes by approximately 10%. Analyzing incident-level US data, we find that the movement also increased arrests and had similar effects across racial and socioeconomic groups. The evidence suggests that the increase reflects a higher propensity to report sex crimes rather than an increase in their incidence. Our results demonstrate that social movements can rapidly and persistently change high-stakes personal decisions.