| dc.description.abstract | In Chapter One, I investigate the effect of Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) laws—risk-based firearm seizure laws that permit police or family members to petition a state court to order the temporary removal of firearms from a person who may present a danger to themselves or others—on homicides and suicides, and find that ERPO laws reduce firearm-related suicides by 6.4% and overall suicides by 3.7%, with no substitution to non-firearm suicides. In Chapter Two, I investigate an unintended consequence of ERPO laws and other lifesaving measures: that they reduce the supply of organ donors and exacerbate the existing shortage of transplantable organs. My point estimates suggest that ERPO laws decrease the organ supply by approximately 0.6%. Like other lifesaving public health measures, ERPO laws have a small, but significant, impact on the overall organ supply, despite an overall positive impact on mortality. In Chapter Three, I study the nature of preferences of US residents toward compensating families of deceased organ donors, presumed consent, and other alternative systems. Respondents’ choices depend on how many additional transplants an alternative system would enable. Moral considerations also strongly influence views. | |
