Contributions

  • Ludwig, Jens. - Contributor
  • National Bureau of Economic Research. - Contributor

Publication

2004 - National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, Mass, Massachusetts

Language

English

Word Count

13,250 words, Guess

Page Count

53 pages

Identifiers

Classifications

  • LCCHB1

Description

"This paper provides new estimates of the effect of household gun prevalence on homicide rates, and infers the marginal external cost of handgun ownership. The estimates utilize a superior proxy for gun prevalence, the percentage of suicides committed with a gun, which we validate. Using county- and state-level panels for 20 years, we estimate the elasticity of homicide with respect to gun prevalence as between +.1 and +.3. All of the effect of gun prevalence is on gun homicide rates. Under certain reasonable assumptions, the average annual marginal social cost of household gun ownership is in the range $100 to $600"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site.

Subjects

Series Statement

  • NBER working paper series -- no. 10736.
  • Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research) -- working paper no. 10736.

Links

Other Editions

  • The social costs of gun ownershipNational Bureau of Economic Research2004

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