Surviving a mass shooting

Prashant Bharadwaj, Manudeep Bhuller, Katrine Løken and Mirjam Wentzel

Journal of Public Economics, 2021, vol. 201, issue C

Abstract: We use data on all middle and high school aged children who survived a mass shooting incident on July 22, 2011 in Utøya, Norway, to understand how such events affect survivors, their families, and their peers. Using a difference-in-differences design to compare survivors to a matched control group, we find that in the short run children who survive have substantially lower GPA (nearly 0.5 SD) and increased utilization of health care services and more mental health diagnoses. In the medium run, survivors have fewer years of schooling completed and lower labor force participation. Parents and siblings of survivors are also impacted, experiencing substantial increases in doctor visits and mental health diagnoses. However, there appear to be limited impacts on school aged peers of survivors. While this event affected the entire country, we show that survivors and their families bear significant costs despite robust social safety nets and universal access to healthcare.

Keywords: Mass shooting; Test scores; Labor markets (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J13 K14 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Working Paper: Surviving a Mass Shooting (2021)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:201:y:2021:i:c:s0047272721001055

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2021.104469

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