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Guns, Privacy, and Crime

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Listed:
  • Alessandro Acquisti
  • Catherine Tucker

Abstract

Open government holds promise of both a more efficient but more accountable and transparent government. It is not clear, however, how transparent information about citizens and their interaction with government, however, affects the welfare of those citizens, and if so in what direction. We investigate this by using as a natural experiment the effect of the online publication of the names and addresses of holders of handgun carry permits on criminals' propensity to commit burglaries. In December 2008, a Memphis, TN newspaper published a searchable online database of names, zip codes, and ages of Tennessee handgun carry permit holders. We use detailed crime and handgun carry permit data for the city of Memphis to estimate the impact of publicity about the database on burglaries. We find that burglaries increased in zip codes with fewer gun permits, and decreased in those with more gun permits, after the database was publicized.

Suggested Citation

  • Alessandro Acquisti & Catherine Tucker, 2022. "Guns, Privacy, and Crime," NBER Working Papers 29940, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:29940
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • K2 - Law and Economics - - Regulation and Business Law
    • K24 - Law and Economics - - Regulation and Business Law - - - Cyber Law
    • M48 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Government Policy and Regulation

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