Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/141641 
Year of Publication: 
2016
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 9882
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
There is a small literature on the economic costs of terrorism. We consider the effects of the Boston marathon bombing on Americans' well-being and time allocation. We exploit data from the American Time Use Survey and Well-Being Module in the days around the terrorist attack to implement a regression-discontinuity design. The bombing led to a significant and large drop of about 1.5 points in well-being, on a scale of one to six, for residents of the States close to Boston. The happiness of American women also dropped significantly, by almost a point, regardless of the State of residence. Labor supply and other time use were not significantly affected. We find no well-being effect of the Sandy Hook shootings, suggesting that terrorism is different in nature from other violent deaths.
Subjects: 
well-being
time use
Terrorism
JEL: 
I31
J21
J22
F52
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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