Host: David Riedman, creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database.
Guests: Muzeeb Shaik is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at the Kelley School of Business, Indiana University–Bloomington. John Costello is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at the Mendoza College of Business, University of Notre Dame. Mike Palazzolo is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at the Graduate School of Management, University of California, Davis, and also serves as a Research Affiliate at UC Davis’s Center for Poverty & Inequality Research. Adithya Pattabhiramaiah is an Associate Professor of Marketing and the Sharon A. and David B. Pearce Professor at the Scheller College of Business, Georgia Institute of Technology. Shrihari (Hari) Sridhar is a Professor of Marketing and Senior Associate Dean of Mays Business School at Texas A&M University.
Paper: How Fatal School Shootings Impact a Community’s Consumption
School shootings are a disturbingly regular occurrence in the US. While their direct impact on those involved are well-researched, their broader effects on communities are less understood. We focus on the under-researched question of how such traumatic incidents affect community consumption. Using data from various sources, we find that fatal school shootings decrease grocery purchases by 2.09% in affected communities, lasting up to 6 months. This economic impact is felt more in liberal than conservative-leaning counties. Additionally, extended analysis reveals that these incidents reduce spending at food services and drinking places by 8% and at food and beverage stores by 3%. Three experimental studies provide evidence that this decrease is driven by heightened anxiety around consumption in public spaces, particularly for political liberals. Our work suggests the violence has far-reaching consequences, harming the local economy. The decline in spending highlights the need for community leaders to develop supportive community responses to such horrific incidents, in addition to the resources currently offered to the victims and their families.
David Riedman is the creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database, Chief Data Officer at a global risk management firm, and a tenure-track professor. Listen to my weekly podcast—Back to School Shootings—or my recent interviews on Freakonomics Radio, New England Journal of Medicine, and my article on CNN about AI and school security.
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