Salience of law enforcement: A field experiment

A-Tier
Journal: Journal of Environmental Economics and Management
Year: 2019
Volume: 93
Issue: C
Pages: 208-220

Authors (2)

Score contribution per author:

2.011 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

We conduct a field experiment to examine whether the deterrent effect of law enforcement depends on the salience of law enforcement activity. Our focus is on illegal disposal of household garbage in residential areas. At a random subset of 56 locations in a mid-sized city, law enforcement officers supplemented their regular enforcement activities by the practice of putting brightly-colored warning labels on illegally disposed garbage bags. This treatment made the existing enforcement activities suddenly much more apparent to residents. We find evidence for a substantial reduction in illegal disposal of garbage in response to the treatment.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:jeeman:v:93:y:2019:i:c:p:208-220
Journal Field
Environment
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-25