STICKING TO ONE'S GUNS: MASS SHOOTINGS AND THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF GUN CONTROL IN THE UNITED STATES

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Yousaf, Hasin
• 署名单位: University of New South Wales Sydney
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC ASSOCIATION
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1542-4766
• DOI: 10.1093/jeea/jvab013
• 发表日期: 2021
• 页码: 2765-2802
• 关键词: polarization; TERRORISM; SALIENCE; POLICY; MODEL

摘要

How do events that highlight a policy issue impact political preferences? In this paper, I analyze the impact of mass shootings on voter behavior. I show that, conditional on population, mass shootings are largely random events. Using a difference-in-differences strategy, I find that mass shootings result in a 1.7 percentage point loss in Republican vote share in counties where they occur. Identification that relies on comparing successful and failed mass shootings yields similar results. Mass shootings lead to an increase in the salience of gun policy and increase the divide on gun policy among both voters and politicians. Democrats (Republicans) tend to demand even stricter (looser) gun control after mass shootings. These results suggest that increasing the salience of an issue may polarize the electorate.