Is the Highway Patrol Really Tougher on Out-of-State Drivers? An Empirical Analysis

Roach Michael ()
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Roach Michael: Department of Economics and Finance, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN 37132, USA

The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, 2015, vol. 15, issue 2, 769-796

Abstract: Using speeding citations from the North Carolina State Highway Patrol, this paper examines whether out-of-state drivers face different enforcement standards than in-state drivers. Discrimination effects are identified by assuming exogenous differences in license plate design affect troopers’ abilities to identify out-of-state drivers. The pattern of citations for difficult to identify out-of-state drivers is significantly different from (indeed, stricter than) the pattern for more easily identifiable out-of-state drivers. I take this as evidence of troopers attempting to apply different enforcement standards to out-of-state drivers. One explanation is troopers attempting to deter in-state speeders whose behavior may be more sensitive to enforcement.

Keywords: discrimination; law enforcement; deterrence (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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DOI: 10.1515/bejeap-2014-0011

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