Rubin, EdwardStanford, Garrett2024-01-102024-01-10https://hdl.handle.net/1794/29220This research examines three pressing social issues: tensions between lawenforcement and the public, climate change policy options, and firearms control laws. Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 use field and survey-based experiments to collect primary data. They estimate novel measures, respectively, of police behavior and public preferences concerning climate change policy. Chapter 4 uses newly available administrative data to understand the consequences of a recently passed firearms control law. In Chapter 2, I test for evidence of racial and gender biases in one aspect of policeinteractions with the public in the United States. Using a so-called “correspondence” study, I test whether police departments respond differently to requests for information about how to lodge a formal complaint against an officer in the department depending on the perceived race/ethnicity and gender of the complainant. The study’s experimental design allows me to examine police behavior quantitatively without relying on police- provided administrative data. Results for a nationwide random sample of police departments suggest that police departments are less likely to respond to Black and Hispanic individuals than White individuals. Examining the interaction of race/ethnicity and gender, I find police departments are most likely to respond to White males and least likely to respond to Black and Hispanic males. Chapter 3 reports upon the results from a set of survey-based choice experimentsdesigned to assess state-level demand for carbon cap-and-trade programs with different attributes. The evidence confirms that these state-level preferences are strongly heterogeneous with respect to political ideologies and opinions about climate change. Our models allow us to calculate the implied social benefits of carbon emissions reductions. We estimate the marginal rate of substitution between “carbon” jobs and “green” jobs for different preference classes. We then use our estimates to model how support for different types of cap-and-trade programs varies across the United States. Methodologically, we account for systematic sample selection of respondents in our estimating sample relative to the quota-based sample of invitees from our commercial internet panel. In Chapter 4, we examine the (un)intended effects of Oregon’s new firearmscontrol law: Measure 114. Narrowly passing by a popular referendum vote in November 2022, Measure 114 aimed to increase firearms licensing requirements and restrict access to high-capacity magazines for ammunitions. We use data from the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System and an administrative dataset provided by the Oregon State Police to measure the causal effect of the law on firearm sales. Results indicate that Measure 114 unintentionally motivated Oregonians to purchase an unprecedented increase in the number of firearms. This dissertation includes previously unpublished co-authored material.en-USAll Rights Reserved.carbon pricingdistributional impactsgun controlpolice discriminationpublic goodspublic policyElectronic Thesis or Dissertation