Blades of Despair? The Impact of Wind Farms on Crime

• In Event: Institutions and Crime: Policy Impacts on Safety, Reintegration, and Civic Participation

Abstract

Wind energy has rapidly expanded over the past two decades, now accounting for a substantial share of new electricity generation capacity in the United States. A growing body of literature has documented the economic benefits of wind energy—such as increased income, GDP, and home values—and its potential health costs. This includes evidence that low-frequency noise from wind turbines may contribute to sleep disruption and increased suicide rates. This paper contributes to this literature by examining the impact of commercial wind turbine installations on local crime rates. Using Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) data from 1995 to 2020 and a staggered difference-in-differences model, we estimate the causal effect of wind energy development on a range of criminal offenses. To explore potential mechanisms, we leverage the Nielsen Retail Dataset to examine changes in alcohol sales in areas near new wind farms. Our findings indicate that county-level crime rates decrease after the wind turbines are installed in the area. These results are robust to the inclusion of demographic controls. We also investigate spatial heterogeneity to assess more localized impacts.

Authors

• Jaehyun Choi, Indiana University
  Presenting Author

• Alberto Ortega, Indiana University
  Non-Presenting Co-Author

• Nikos Zirogiannis, Indiana University
  Non-Presenting Co-Author