Essays on Gun and Marijuana Laws

Abstract

This dissertation adds to the economic study of gun and marijuana laws. Chapter 1 studies the impact of stand your ground laws (SYGs) on traffic fatalities. Chapter 2 investigates the effects of campus concealed carry laws (CCCs) on higher education outcomes. Chapter 3 looks at the impact of medical marijuana laws (MMLs) on youth crimes. The first chapter focuses on SYG, a key interest of current gun policy research. SYG is a self-defense law. It allows citizens in the vehicle to use lethal force for self-defense; even retreat is possible. The laws could potentially impact driving behaviors and traffic fatalities by increasing gun prevalence in the traffic fleet and altering the expected cost of aggressive driving actions. This paper is the first to evaluate the impact of SYGs on traffic fatalities. Using state-level traffic fatality data and an event study approach, I find that the implementation of SYGs is associated with a 3% increase in total traffic fatalities. In addition, the laws are associated with increases in both gun ownership and road rage crimes. These findings are robust to alternative estimation methods addressing staggered policy implementation and heterogeneous treatment effects. The evidence in this paper suggests broader impacts of SYGs on public health than initially considered. The second chapter studies CCCs, which allow students to carry guns on campus. Utilizing the U.S Department of Education, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Council for Advancement and Support of Education data, event studies are conducted on the effects of CCCs on various university outcomes, including campus crime rates, alumni donation rate, alumni giving, instructional staff employment, and campus police employment. The results show that the passage CCCs can increase aggravated assault, and campus police and faculty employment but decrease alumni’s donation rate and international student enrollment. The third chapter intends to explore the impact of MMLs on youth crime. Using UCR state-level arrest data and stacked event study models, the study finds that MMLs’ implementation increase youth violent crime by 12-20%. No evidence suggests MMLs increase the overall youth drug crime. The results are robust to a series of robustness and sensitivity checks. States should consider this negative impact when making the future medical marijuana law.