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Race and Riots: A Note on the Economic Impact of the Rodney King Riots

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  • Victor A. Matheson

    (Department of Economics, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA 01610-2395, USA. Fax: 508 793 3708. E-mail: vmatheso@holycross.edu)

  • Robert A. Baade

    (Department of Economics and Business, Lake Forest College, Lake Forest, IL 60045, USA. Fax: 847 735 6193. baade@lfc.edu)

Abstract

When the four police officers who had been videotaped beating motorist Rodney King were found not guilty of criminal acts in 1992, the city of Los Angeles erupted in the worst rioting seen in the US since the 1960s. The loss of life and destruction of property left a significant scar on the city. Time-series analysis indicates that the Rodney King riots not only reduced taxable sales in the city immediately following the unrest, but that this social catastrophe has had a lasting impact on the economic performance of the city of Los Angeles. In the 10 years since the riots, this continued loss of taxable sales has translated into a cumulative loss of at least $3.8 billion in taxable sales and over $125 million in direct sales tax revenue losses.

Suggested Citation

  • Victor A. Matheson & Robert A. Baade, 2004. "Race and Riots: A Note on the Economic Impact of the Rodney King Riots," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 41(13), pages 2691-2696, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:41:y:2004:i:13:p:2691-2696
    DOI: 10.1080/0042098042000294628
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Victor Matheson & Robert Baade, 2004. "Padding Required: Assessing the Economic Impact of the Super Bowl," Working Papers 0403, College of the Holy Cross, Department of Economics.
    2. Martin Schmidt & David Berri, 2002. "The impact of the 1981 and 1994-1995 strikes on Major League Baseball attendance: a time-series analysis," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(4), pages 471-478.
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    Cited by:

    1. Emmanuel Duguet & David Gray & Yannick L'Horty & Loïc du Parquet & Pascale Petit, 2020. "Labour market effects of urban riots: An experimental assessment," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 99(3), pages 787-806, June.
    2. Robert Baade & Robert Baumann & Victor Matheson, 2005. "Selling the Big Game: Estimating the Economic Impact of Mega-Events through Taxable Sales," Working Papers 0510, College of the Holy Cross, Department of Economics.
    3. Robert A. Baade & Robert Baumann & Victor A. Matheson, 2008. "Selling the Game: Estimating the Economic Impact of Professional Sports through Taxable Sales," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 74(3), pages 794-810, January.
    4. Robert A. Baade & Robert Baumann & Victor Matheson, 2007. "Estimating the Economic Impact of Natural and Social Disasters, with an Application to Hurricane Katrina," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 44(11), pages 2061-2076, October.
    5. Robert Baade & Victor Matheson, 2007. "NFL Governance and the Fate of the New Orleans Saints: Some Observations," Working Papers 0703, College of the Holy Cross, Department of Economics.
    6. Iyer, Sriya & Shrivastava, Anand, 2018. "Religious riots and electoral politics in India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 104-122.
    7. Braakmann, Nils, 2012. "The effect of the 2011 London riots on crime, policing and unemployment," MPRA Paper 44883, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Victor Matheson, 2006. "Mega-Events: The effect of the world’s biggest sporting events on local, regional, and national economies," Working Papers 0610, College of the Holy Cross, Department of Economics.
    9. Noli Brazil, 2016. "Large-Scale Urban Riots and Residential Segregation: A Case Study of the 1960s U.S. Riots," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 53(2), pages 567-595, April.
    10. Baade, Robert A. & Matheson, Victor A., 2012. "Professional sports, hurricane Katrina, and the economic redevelopment of New Orleans," Edition HWWI: Chapters, in: Büch, Martin-Peter & Maennig, Wolfgang & Schulke, Hans-Jürgen (ed.), Zur Ökonomik von Spitzenleistungen im internationalen Sport, volume 3, pages 123-146, Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWI).
    11. Lisa Cook, 2014. "Violence and economic activity: evidence from African American patents, 1870–1940," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 221-257, June.

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