Equal before the (expressive power of) law?

Luise Görges (), Tom Lane (), Daniele Nosenzo and Silvia Sonderegger ()
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Luise Görges: Leuphana Universität Lüneburg, Institut für Volkswirtschaftslehre
Silvia Sonderegger: School of Economics and Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics (CeDEx), University of Nottingham

No 423, Working Paper Series in Economics from University of Lüneburg, Institute of Economics

Abstract: Building on findings showing that laws exert a causal effect on social norms, this paper investigates whether this “expressive power of law” differs by gen-der or race. We develop a model to show that such differences are theo-retically plausible. We then use an incentivized vignette experiment to test whether these differences are empirically relevant. Results from an online sample of around 4000 subjects confirm that laws causally influence social norms. However, we find little evidence of a differential effect across gender or race, suggesting that gender and race biases in the legal system are driven by other mechanisms than differences in the expressive power of law.

Keywords: Social Norms; Law; Expressive Function of Law; Gender Gap; Racial Bias (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C91 C92 D9 K1 K42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 138 pages
Date: 2023-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp and nep-hme
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Related works:
Working Paper: Equal before the (expressive power of) law? (2023)
Working Paper: Equal before the (expressive power of) law? (2023)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:lue:wpaper:423

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