Street-level bureaucracy: best to be grey (or silver) on Friday, in Halifax

Shaun Hargreaves Heap and Oleksandr Talavera ()

Discussion Papers from Department of Economics, University of Birmingham

Abstract: This paper examines the behaviour of a group of 'street-level bureaucrats': the UK's MOT (certificate of roadworthiness) testers. We find differences in MOT failure rates across postcodes, days of the week and by car color. The postcode variation is worrying in a national test, especially as it is associated with road traffic accidents/fatalities. It plausibly arises from how these 'street-level bureaucrats' are regulated. The 'day-of-the-week' effect is also apparent in financial markets and so our evidence suggests this behavioral bias may be more widespread. The bias with respect to color is new and is unrelated to favourite colors.

Keywords: Street-level bureaucrats; regulatory failure; accident rate; behavioral bias. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: R41 R48 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 38 pages
Date: 2019-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-tre and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bir:birmec:19-02

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