Gun Violence, Businesses, and Housing Values: A Neighborhood Level Analysis of the Economic Impact of Gun Violence

• In Event: Population Density, Gun Violence, and Drug Trafficking on Community Rates of Crime and Recidivism

Abstract

The fear of gun violence, and people’s perceived risk, has been shown to impose heavy social, psychological, and monetary burdens on individuals that translate into monetary costs to society. Yet we know comparatively little about the relationship between gun violence and the economic health of neighborhoods at the most grassroots levels; we don’t know how businesses, jobs, and many more indicators of economic health respond to increased levels of gun violence. This mixed-methods study examines the neighborhood-level economic impact of gun violence in six cities in the US with ShotSpotter©, National Establishment Time Series© data, data from a major credit bureau, and interviews with major stakeholders in neighborhoods of interest.

The study finds that an increase in gun homicides or gunfire in neighborhoods can lower the number of retail and service business establishments, the number of new jobs created, the volume of sales in business establishments, and house values.

Authors

• Yasemin Irvin-Erickson, Urban Institute

• Mathew Lynch, Urban Institute

• Edward Mohr, The Urban Institute

• Annie Gurvis, Urban Institute

• Bing Bai, Urban Institute