David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants

increases in the cost of crime by
committing fewer crimes. This is clearly
true when the penalties for breaking the
law are really low. One of the best
known case studies in criminology is
about what happened in the fall of 1969
when the Montreal police went on strike
for sixteen hours. Montreal was—and
still is—a world-class city in a country
that is considered one of the most law-
abiding and stable in the world. So,
what happened? Chaos. There were so
many bank robberies that day—in broad
daylight—that virtually every bank in the
city had to close. Looters descended on
downtown Montreal, smashing
windows. Most shocking of all, a long-
standing dispute between the city’s taxi