Policy innovation through noise in implementation: Best to be grey (or silver) on Friday, in Halifax

Shaun Hargreaves Heap and Oleksandr Talavera ()

Scottish Journal of Political Economy, 2023, vol. 70, issue 1, 19-37

Abstract: When the implementation of regulations requires judgement, there is bound to be noise in the application of the rules, but is there bias in the noise such that policy innovation, in effect, occurs in implementation? We use a recently available large postcode data set on the MOT road safety testing in the UK to answer this question. There is significant bias: the probability of failing varies systematically across postcodes, day of the week and vehicle colour. A national policy is undermined by this variability and we suggest how policy might be adjusted to reduce this unintended policy innovation.

Date: 2023
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https://doi.org/10.1111/sjpe.12302

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:scotjp:v:70:y:2023:i:1:p:19-37

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Scottish Journal of Political Economy is currently edited by Tim Barmby, Andrew Hughes-Hallett and Campbell Leith

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