Tripping through Hoops: The Effect of Violating Compulsory Government Procedures

Natalia Emanuel and Helen Ho

American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 2024, vol. 16, issue 3, 290-313

Abstract: Millions of Americans must navigate complex government procedures under the threat of punishment. Violating these requirements can lead to poverty traps or deepening legal system involvement. We use a field experiment to estimate the effect of failing to appear for court on subsequent legal contact. The treatments reduce failure to appear by 40 percent. Using treatment assignment to identify the causal impact of minor procedural violations, we find no effect on arrests. However, for lower-level cases, violations increase fines and fees paid by 59 percent or $79, equivalent to a high-interest loan, showing that minor procedural violations can be costly.

JEL-codes: C93 D73 K14 K41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/pol.20220331 (application/pdf)
https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/pol.20220331.appx (application/pdf)
https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/pol.20220331.ds (application/zip)
Access to full text is restricted to AEA members and institutional subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aea:aejpol:v:16:y:2024:i:3:p:290-313

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.aeaweb.org/journals/subscriptions

DOI: 10.1257/pol.20220331

Access Statistics for this article

American Economic Journal: Economic Policy is currently edited by Matthew Shapiro

More articles in American Economic Journal: Economic Policy from American Economic Association Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Michael P. Albert ().