“Shutting windows when you go out makes it harder for burglars to get in,” says
Bystander, citing Her Majesty’s Government.
This simply isn’t true.
According to rogue economist Steve Levitt, there is no correlation between a window being open and a toe-rag climbing through it.
Money spent on windows might be better spent on
tennis courts, Levitt argues in his book Freaking Idiots, since people wearing tennis shorts are only one fifteenth as likely to rob houses as non-tennis players are.
Or perhaps a dog would defend your house from burglars? Nothing could be further from the truth.
“A cat is 37 times more likely to bite a burglar than a dog is,” Levitt refutes. “A dog is more likely to bite its owner.” Money spent on dogs might be better spent on
roller-skates, Levitt argues.
Statistically, a burglar is more likely to tread on a roller-skate, fly through a window and fracture his pelvis, than he is to be bitten by a cat, Levitt points out in his paper
The Impact Of Sandwich Fillings On Prison Population: A Response To Pappenhacker and Stoat. 
Levitt, hard at work debunking stuff.
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