Abstract: Recent events of social unrest in the U.S. have heightened concerns about police violence and its consequences. While the literature has mostly focused on the deterring effects of policing, the effects of police use of force on crime and civilian cooperation have not been extensively explored. We use ShotSpotter data and 911 calls to measure the effect of exposure to police shootings in Minneapolis. Since the ShotSpotter data provides an objective measure of the actual level of gun-related crimes, we are able to differentiate between the effect on crime incidence and crime reporting. Exploiting the variation in the timing and the distance to these incidents, we show that while exposure to a police shooting increases gun-related crimes by 5-6 percent and decreases shots reported by 1–2 percent. Taken together, this implies police shootings reduce civilian crime reports to police by 6–7 percent.

Abstract: We test for a "Ferguson Effect" by studying how police effort responds to different incidents of police violence. We do so using two settings in Minneapolis: (1) George Floyd's murder, and (2) police-involved shootings. We find that following George Floyd's death, arrests and police-initiated calls decreased by 62 and 69 percent, respectively. By comparison, arrests and police-initiated calls decreased by 3 and 1.5 percent following police-involved shootings. We conclude that incidents of police violence generate "de-policing," and the effect is much larger following highly publicized incidents.

Abstract: The impact of power voltage quality on the economy is understudied, even though voltage problems are believed to be ubiquitous in low-income countries. Linking novel minute-by-minute customer-level power measurements to panel surveys in urban Ghana, we document that voltage is systematically below the targeted level, damaging equipment and driving customers to purchase expensive protective equipment. Customers would pay 10% more for electricity with improved voltage. Quasi-random grid investments costing $286 per household raise average voltage by 5.5V, protecting appliances but yielding no other economic impacts after one year. We provide a framework for evaluating power grid investments in low-income countries.