American Economic Review Vol. 99 No. 1 2009
Political Economy at Any Speed: What Determines Traffic Citations?
Abstract
Speeding tickets are determined not only by the speed of the offender, but also by incentives faced by police officers and their vote-maximizing principals. We hypothesize that police officers issue fines more frequently when drivers have a higher opportunity cost of contesting a ticket, and when drivers are not residents of the local municipality. We also predict that local officers are more likely to issue a ticket to out-of-town drivers when fiscal conditions are tight and legal limits prevent increases in property taxes. Using data from traffic stops in Massachusetts, we find support for our hypotheses.
- DOI
- 10.1257/aer.99.1.509
- Volume
- 99
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 509-527
- Language
- en
- Sources
- openalex bibtex:phds-export.bib crossref