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Nudging Early Reduces Administrative Burden: Three Field Experiments to Improve Code Enforcement

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  • Elizabeth Linos
  • Lisa T. Quan
  • Elspeth Kirkman

Abstract

In the past decade, public sector organizations around the world have worked to simplify administrative processes as a way to improve user experience and compliance. Academic evidence on administrative burden supports this approach and there is a strong body of research showing that learning costs, compliance costs, and psychological costs help to explain why residents do not always take up programs for which they are eligible. This article considers the role of these types of costs in a different set of resident‐state interactions: compliance with regulations. We present the results of three large field experiments aimed at improving resident compliance with municipal housing codes using targeted behavioral interventions. We find that contacting property owners earlier, redesigning first notices, and proactively communicating with previous violators, can significantly improve compliance by 14.7 percent, 3.3 percent, and 9.2 percent, respectively, with costs savings ranging from 6 to 15 percent of a city's annual enforcement budget. Our results counterintuitively suggest that sometimes adding steps to an administrative process can reduce the costs associated with the resident‐state interaction.

Suggested Citation

  • Elizabeth Linos & Lisa T. Quan & Elspeth Kirkman, 2020. "Nudging Early Reduces Administrative Burden: Three Field Experiments to Improve Code Enforcement," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(1), pages 243-265, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:wly:jpamgt:v:39:y:2020:i:1:p:243-265
    DOI: 10.1002/pam.22178
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    Cited by:

    1. Migchelbrink, Koen & Raymaekers, Pieter, 2023. "Nudging people to pay their parking fines on time. Evidence from a cluster-randomized field experiment," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    2. Dirkmaat, Thomas & Rohde, Kirsten I.M. & van de Veer, Evelien & van Dijk, Bram & Yu, Xiao, 2023. "Managing “Last Moment Behavior”: Non-binding target dates to reduce the spikes in task completion at deadlines," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 219(C).
    3. Halling, Aske & Bækgaard, Martin, 2022. "Administrative Burden in Citizen-State Interactions: A Systematic Literature Review," OSF Preprints 26xdj, Center for Open Science.
    4. Libor Dušek & Nicolas Pardo & Christian Traxler, 2022. "Salience and Timely Compliance: Evidence from Speeding Tickets," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(2), pages 426-449, March.
    5. Mattie Mackenzie‐Liu & David J. Schwegman & Leonard M. Lopoo, 2021. "Do Foster Care Agencies Discriminate Against Gay Couples? Evidence from a Correspondence Study," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 40(4), pages 1140-1170, September.
    6. Carolyn Barnes, 2023. "“I Can’t Get Ahold of Them†: Perceptions of Administrative Burden and Administrative Exclusion across SNAP, WIC, and Medicaid during the COVID-19 Pandemic," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 706(1), pages 118-136, March.

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