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The Economic Impacts of Sexual Assault
(Forthcoming Article) - We estimate the economic impacts of sexual assault using population-wide Finnish police
reports and hospital admissions. Over the five years following a sexual assault, victims’
employment falls by 6 percentage points and annual earnings decline by ¤1,500, alongside
a 6 percentage point increase in anti-depressant use, relative to otherwise observationally
equivalent women. These effects persist for at least a decade and correspond to a 15% decline
in employment, 17% earnings loss, and 28% rise in anti-depressant use relative to pre-assault
baselines. Sexual assault also generates spillover effects to victims’ networks: female schoolmates
and victims’ parents experience significant mental health deterioration.
