Uploaded May 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Despite decades of policy ideas, pouring millions of dollars into the problem, and a slow pace of gun control measures, the United States hasn’t made much progress on curbing the epidemic of gun violence in our country.
For the past 25 years, Prof. Jens Ludwig of the University of Chicago has examined the questions of: Why does gun violence happen, and is there anything we can do about it?
In his new book, Unforgiving Places: The Unexpected Origins of American Gun Violence, Ludwig—who is director of the University of Chicago Crime Lab—discusses why we've been thinking about the gun violence problem in the wrong ways.
Drawing upon behavioral economics, he explains that most shootings are not premediated; rather, the result of arguments that escalate into violence. Using data-backed interventions, Ludwig introduces new ideas beyond policy and policing to get at the real root causes of gun violence today.
00:00 - Intro: America’s Gun Violence Crisis
01:12 - Meet Jens Ludwig & UChicago Crime Lab
03:05 - Why Traditional Solutions Fail
06:48 - The Role of Behavioral Science (System 1 vs. System 2)
10:15 - Data-Driven Prevention Strategies
14:32 - Real-World Interventions That Work
18:59 - Misconceptions About Gun Crime
22:45 - What Policymakers Get Wrong
26:18 - The Economics of Crime Prevention
30:10 - A New Framework for Public Safety
34:22 - Final Thoughts & Call to Action
Despite decades of policy ideas, pouring millions of dollars into the problem, and a slow pace of gun control measures, the United States hasn’t made much progress on curbing the epidemic of gun violence in our country.
For the past 25 years, Prof. Jens Ludwig of the University of Chicago has examined the questions of: Why does gun violence happen, and is there anything we can do about it?
In his new book, Unforgiving Places: The Unexpected Origins of American Gun Violence, Ludwig—who is director of the University of Chicago Crime Lab—discusses why we've been thinking about the gun violence problem in the wrong ways.
Drawing upon behavioral economics, he explains that most shootings are not premediated; rather, the result of arguments that escalate into violence. Using data-backed interventions, Ludwig introduces new ideas beyond policy and policing to get at the real root causes of gun violence today.
00:00 - Intro: America’s Gun Violence Crisis
01:12 - Meet Jens Ludwig & UChicago Crime Lab
03:05 - Why Traditional Solutions Fail
06:48 - The Role of Behavioral Science (System 1 vs. System 2)
10:15 - Data-Driven Prevention Strategies
14:32 - Real-World Interventions That Work
18:59 - Misconceptions About Gun Crime
22:45 - What Policymakers Get Wrong
26:18 - The Economics of Crime Prevention
30:10 - A New Framework for Public Safety
34:22 - Final Thoughts & Call to Action
