IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolet/v230y2023ics0165176523002628.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

False proxies for enforcement distortions in “policing for profit” research

Author

Listed:
  • Mungan, Murat C.

Abstract

Concerns about law enforcer incentives being affected by a desire to raise revenue for their departments or other governmental units has led to considerable research. Part of this scholarship attempts to identify a causal relationship between monetary incentives and distortions in enforcer behavior. Because enforcer behavior is often unobservable, they rely on proxies like arrests or citations to infer distortions in behavior. I construct a simple model which reveals that in general there is no meaningful relationship between these measures and enforcer incentives or behavior, and therefore these measures may be ‘false proxies’.

Suggested Citation

  • Mungan, Murat C., 2023. "False proxies for enforcement distortions in “policing for profit” research," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:230:y:2023:i:c:s0165176523002628
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2023.111237
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165176523002628
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.econlet.2023.111237?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michael D. Makowsky & Thomas Stratmann, 2011. "More Tickets, Fewer Accidents: How Cash-Strapped Towns Make for Safer Roads," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 54(4), pages 863-888.
    2. Michael D. Makowsky & Thomas Stratmann, 2009. "Political Economy at Any Speed: What Determines Traffic Citations?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(1), pages 509-527, March.
    3. Thomas A. Garrett & Gary A. Wagner, 2009. "Red Ink in the Rearview Mirror: Local Fiscal Conditions and the Issuance of Traffic Tickets," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 52(1), pages 71-90, February.
    4. Anna Harvey, 2020. "Fiscal Incentives in Law Enforcement," American Law and Economics Review, American Law and Economics Association, vol. 22(1), pages 173-210.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Florian Baumann & Sophie Bienenstock & Tim Friehe & Maiva Ropaul, 2023. "Fines as enforcers’ rewards or as a transfer to society at large? Evidence on deterrence and enforcement implications," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 196(3), pages 229-255, September.
    2. Losak, Shannon R. & Makowsky, Michael D., 2024. "Lame duck law enforcement," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 238(C).
    3. Yahagi, Ken, 2021. "Law enforcement with motivated agents," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    4. Bertoli, Paola & Grembi, Veronica, 2021. "The political cycle of road traffic accidents," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    5. Shawn Kantor & Carl T. Kitchens & Steven Pawlowski, 2021. "Civil Asset Forfeiture, Crime, And Police Incentives: Evidence From The Comprehensive Crime Control Act Of 1984," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 59(1), pages 217-242, January.
    6. Siân Mughan & Joanna Carroll, 2021. "Escaping the long arm of the law? Racial disparities in the effect of drivers' license suspensions on offense probabilities," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 87(4), pages 1366-1389, April.
    7. Kibrom A. Abay, 2018. "How Effective Are Non‐Monetary Instruments for Safe Driving? Panel Data Evidence on the Effect of the Demerit Point System in Denmark," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 120(3), pages 894-924, July.
    8. Michael Makowsky & Thomas Stratmann, 2014. "Politics, unemployment, and the enforcement of immigration law," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 160(1), pages 131-153, July.
    9. DeAngelo Gregory J. & Gittings R. Kaj & Ross Amanda, 2018. "Police Incentives, Policy Spillovers, and the Enforcement of Drug Crimes," Review of Law & Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 14(1), pages 1-29, March.
    10. Makofske, Matthew, 2020. "Pretextual Traffic Stops and Racial Disparities in their Use," MPRA Paper 100792, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Wolfgang Eggert & Steffen Minter & Maximilian Stephan & Handirk Ungern-Sternberg, 2017. "Sanctions for repeat offenders: a question of wealth?," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 64(5), pages 467-482, November.
    12. Anna Harvey, 2020. "Applying regression discontinuity designs to American political development," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 185(3), pages 377-399, December.
    13. Roach Michael, 2015. "Is the Highway Patrol Really Tougher on Out-of-State Drivers? An Empirical Analysis," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 15(2), pages 769-796, April.
    14. Matt E. Ryan, 2020. "The heat: temperature, police behavior and the enforcement of law," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 49(2), pages 187-203, April.
    15. Foster Kamanga & Virginia Smercina & Barbara G. Brents & Daniel Okamura & Vincent Fuentes, 2021. "Costs and Consequences of Traffic Fines and Fees: A Case Study of Open Warrants in Las Vegas, Nevada," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-25, November.
    16. Gregory DeAngelo & R. Kaj Gittings & Amanda Ross & Annie Walker, 2016. "Police Bias in the Enforcement of Drug Crimes: Evidence from Low Priority Laws," Working Papers 16-01, Department of Economics, West Virginia University.
    17. Michael D. Makowsky & Thomas Stratmann, 2011. "More Tickets, Fewer Accidents: How Cash-Strapped Towns Make for Safer Roads," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 54(4), pages 863-888.
    18. Manville, Michael & Pinski, Miriam, 2021. "The causes and consequences of curb parking management," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 295-307.
    19. Gila Albert & Dimitry Bukchin & Tomer Toledo, 2021. "Evaluation of a Public Technology-Based Traffic Enforcement Program," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-13, October.
    20. Makowsky, Michael & Sanders, Shane, 2013. "Political costs and fiscal benefits: The political economy of residential property value assessment under Proposition 212," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 120(3), pages 359-363.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Policing for profit; Crime; Enforcement; Speeding;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • K00 - Law and Economics - - General - - - General (including Data Sources and Description)
    • K14 - Law and Economics - - Basic Areas of Law - - - Criminal Law
    • K40 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:230:y:2023:i:c:s0165176523002628. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolet .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.