Citation

Balestra S. J. Health Econ. 2018; 61: 163-177.

Affiliation

University of St. Gallen, Rosenbergstrasse 51, CH-9000 St. Gallen, Switzerland. Electronic address: simone.balestra@unisg.ch.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jhealeco.2018.08.003

PMID

30149247

Abstract

In light of the ongoing debate over tighter firearm regulations, this paper considers the relationship between gun prevalence and suicide. I exploit a reform in Switzerland that reduced the prevalence of military-issued guns in private households. In Switzerland, military service is compulsory for men, and military-issued guns account for nearly half of the total number of firearms available. The results show that the firearm suicide rate decreases by 9% for a reduction in gun prevalence of 1000 guns per 100,000 inhabitants. The elasticity of gun suicides with respect to firearm prevalence is +0.48, but converges towards zero for low levels of gun prevalence. The overall suicide rate is negatively and significantly related to firearm prevalence, which indicates that non-gun methods of suicide are not perfect replacements for firearms.

Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Firearm suicide; Gun policy; Gun prevalence; I12; I18; J18; K32; Suicide rate