{"title":"Fewer guns, less crime: evidence from Brazil","authors":"Rodrigo Schneider","doi":"10.1093/EPOLIC/EIAB005","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"\n This paper studies the effects of legislation in Brazil that banned the right to carry guns and provided for a voter referendum regarding whether to ban the sale of all firearms. Using a regression discontinuity design, I find that gun-related homicides decreased by 12.2% and gunshot wounds that were ‘intended to kill’ by 16.3%, with the reduction of the former being especially pronounced in high-crime areas and among black males. There is no evidence of substitution effect as non-gun-related homicides were not affected. Two pieces of evidence suggest that the mechanism explaining this result is a decrease in the number of people carrying guns in response to the legislation: first, the number of cases of illegal gun carrying decreased and second, only gun-related homicides taking place outside the residence were reduced. Analysis of the subsequent voter referendum, which was defeated by a wide margin, shows stronger support for the complete firearms ban in the areas more affected by gun violence.","PeriodicalId":43996,"journal":{"name":"Ekonomicheskaya politika","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.4000,"publicationDate":"2021-02-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1093/EPOLIC/EIAB005","citationCount":"3","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Ekonomicheskaya politika","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1093/EPOLIC/EIAB005","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"ECONOMICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 3
Abstract
This paper studies the effects of legislation in Brazil that banned the right to carry guns and provided for a voter referendum regarding whether to ban the sale of all firearms. Using a regression discontinuity design, I find that gun-related homicides decreased by 12.2% and gunshot wounds that were ‘intended to kill’ by 16.3%, with the reduction of the former being especially pronounced in high-crime areas and among black males. There is no evidence of substitution effect as non-gun-related homicides were not affected. Two pieces of evidence suggest that the mechanism explaining this result is a decrease in the number of people carrying guns in response to the legislation: first, the number of cases of illegal gun carrying decreased and second, only gun-related homicides taking place outside the residence were reduced. Analysis of the subsequent voter referendum, which was defeated by a wide margin, shows stronger support for the complete firearms ban in the areas more affected by gun violence.
期刊介绍:
Ekonomicheskaya Politika is a broad-range economic journal devoted primarily to the study of the economic policy of present-day Russia as well as global economic problems. The subject matters of articles includes macroeconomic, fiscal, monetary, industrial, social, regulation and competition policyand more. The journal also publishes theoretical papers in such areas as political economy, general economic theory, welfare economics, law and economics,and institutional economics.. The character and the scope of economic problems studied in many publications require a multidisciplinary approach, consistent with the editorial policy of the journal. While the thematic scope of articles is generally related to Russia, the aim of editorial policy is to cover politico-economic processes in the modern world and international economic relations, as well. In addition, Ekonomicheskaya Politika publishes Russian translations of classical and significant modern works of foreign economists.