The social costs of gun ownership
Publication
, Journal Article
Cook, PJ; Ludwig, J
Published in: Journal of Public Economics
January 1, 2006
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 +0.1 and +0.3. 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 $1800. © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Duke Scholars
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Published In
Journal of Public Economics
DOI
ISSN
0047-2727
Publication Date
January 1, 2006
Volume
90
Issue
1-2
Start / End Page
379 / 391
Related Subject Headings
- Economics
- 3803 Economic theory
- 3801 Applied economics
- 1403 Econometrics
- 1402 Applied Economics
- 1401 Economic Theory
Citation
APA
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ICMJE
MLA
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Cook, P. J., & Ludwig, J. (2006). The social costs of gun ownership. Journal of Public Economics, 90(1–2), 379–391. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2005.02.003
Cook, P. J., and J. Ludwig. “The social costs of gun ownership.” Journal of Public Economics 90, no. 1–2 (January 1, 2006): 379–91. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2005.02.003.
Cook PJ, Ludwig J. The social costs of gun ownership. Journal of Public Economics. 2006 Jan 1;90(1–2):379–91.
Cook, P. J., and J. Ludwig. “The social costs of gun ownership.” Journal of Public Economics, vol. 90, no. 1–2, Jan. 2006, pp. 379–91. Scopus, doi:10.1016/j.jpubeco.2005.02.003.
Cook PJ, Ludwig J. The social costs of gun ownership. Journal of Public Economics. 2006 Jan 1;90(1–2):379–391.
Published In
Journal of Public Economics
DOI
ISSN
0047-2727
Publication Date
January 1, 2006
Volume
90
Issue
1-2
Start / End Page
379 / 391
Related Subject Headings
- Economics
- 3803 Economic theory
- 3801 Applied economics
- 1403 Econometrics
- 1402 Applied Economics
- 1401 Economic Theory