Our third speaker at our research seminar was Brad Shapiro from the University of Chicago. By looking at firearm regulations through a marketing lens, Brad Shapiro shared insights from his initial analysis, which examined the motivations for gun purchases, the demographics of people who plan to purchase a gun in the future and the likelihood of switching to a different type of gun if prices increase or specific guns will be banned. His first findings revealed that people, overall, prefer smaller over larger firearms and that, contrary to expectations, there is only little heterogeneity in preferences for specific guns across regions, gender, income levels and education. His findings are particularly interesting because they shed light on how people might behave should policymakers impose gun taxes or implement a global gun ban, while at the same time leaving many unanswered questions that he will address in his future work.

We were delighted to have him as our guest and we hope he will enjoy the rest of his time in Vienna.