TY - JOUR
T1 - How do right-to-carry laws affect crime rates? Coping with ambiguity using bounded-variation assumptions
AU - Manski, Charles F.
AU - Pepper, John V.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
PY - 2018/5/1
Y1 - 2018/5/1
N2 - Despite dozens of studies, research on crime has struggled to reach consensus about the impact of right-to-carry (RTC) gun laws. With this in mind, we formalize and apply a class of bounded-variation assumptions that flexibly restrict the degree to which outcomes may vary across time and space. Using these assumptions, we present empirical analysis of the effect of RTC laws on violent and property crimes in Virginia, Maryland, and Illinois. Imposing specific assumptions that we believe worthy of consideration, we find that RTC laws increase some crimes, decrease other crimes, and have effects that vary over time for others.
AB - Despite dozens of studies, research on crime has struggled to reach consensus about the impact of right-to-carry (RTC) gun laws. With this in mind, we formalize and apply a class of bounded-variation assumptions that flexibly restrict the degree to which outcomes may vary across time and space. Using these assumptions, we present empirical analysis of the effect of RTC laws on violent and property crimes in Virginia, Maryland, and Illinois. Imposing specific assumptions that we believe worthy of consideration, we find that RTC laws increase some crimes, decrease other crimes, and have effects that vary over time for others.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85044163441&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85044163441&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1162/rest_a_00689
DO - 10.1162/rest_a_00689
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85044163441
SN - 0034-6535
VL - 100
SP - 232
EP - 244
JO - Review of Economics and Statistics
JF - Review of Economics and Statistics
IS - 2
ER -
