Citizen Compliance With Public Policy: the National Maximum Speed Law

Meier, Kenneth J.; Morgan, David R.

doi:10.1177/106591298203500211

Cited by 17 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…There are substantial and diverse literatures on why individuals and businesses do or do not comply with public policies. These literatures span the fields of political science, economics, law, and psychology (see, e.g., Bergman ; Cialdini ; Etienne ; Kahan ; May ; Meier and Morgan ; Thaler and Sunstein ; Tyler ; Winter and May ). Specialized literatures have also developed that span disciplinary boundaries.…”

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confidence: 99%

Compliance Regimes and Barriers to Behavioral Change

2013

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Existing research on compliance failures by individuals and businesses focuses primarily on information and incentive problems. This article develops a comprehensive framework for analyzing barriers to compliance, giving particular attention to resource and autonomy barriers, heterogeneity of the target population, multiple barriers to compliance, and problems that arise when a complex and ongoing set of actions is require to be "in compliance." How governments react to compliance failures is heavily influenced by the social construction and political power of target populations. The propositions developed in the article are tested against the cases of the Swedish individual account pension system and welfare reform in the United States.Many policies can only achieve their objectives if a broad array of ordinary citizens, corporations, or other actors "comply" with those policies, that is, behave in ways that are consistent with the enunciated objectives of the policy. Financing government requires that citizens and corporations pay their taxes. Lowering the emission of greenhouse gases may require increased use of public transit, the purchase of more fuel-efficient vehicles, and a variety other actions by millions of people. Indeed, for some programs, like bans on smoking in public places, changing the behavior of some target group of citizens is the whole point of the policy. Other policies-fair labor standards, pollution laws, and of course tax lawsrequire compliant behavior from businesses (see, e.g., Gray and Shadbegian 2005;Gunningham and Kagan 2005;Mendeloff and Gray 2005).There are substantial and diverse literatures on why individuals and businesses do or do not comply with public policies. These literatures span the fields of political science, economics, law, and psychology (see, e.g.,

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confidence: 99%

Compliance Regimes and Barriers to Behavioral Change

2013

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“…Some researchers have attempted to look at more than economic costs and benefits to explain citizens' compliant and non-compliant behavior toward certain laws, but they are relatively soon stymied by the realization that so many motivations are difficult or even impossible to measure. For example, compliance 'theories assume that the individual is a rational decision maker who engages in a cost-benefit analysis of compliance' (Meier and Morgan, 1982). But measuring rational calculations in these matters must attempt to accommodate opportunity (not every disliked law-consider those concerned with prostitution-affords every citizen an equal chance to disobey it), citizen attitudes (respect for government, a belief that government is the legitimate arbiter of law and value conflict), base self-interest, and scope of law enforcement, to name just a few.…”

Section: The 55 Mph Speed Limit: Costs-benefit and Technologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Citizenship

2009

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“…Underlying this concept is the important, albeit rather basic and natural, principle, that “No matter how strong they may be, intentions cannot result in actions unless the opportunity to realize them is available” 7 (Smith and Kinsey 1987, 646–47; see also Coleman 1987, 424). For example, as Meier and Morgan (1982, 260) point out, “persons living in small Midwestern towns may not have the opportunity to violate a pornography or prostitution law. A small businessman may never have the chance to fix prices.…”

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confidence: 99%

Through the Back Door: Applying Theories of Legal Compliance to Illegal Immigration During the Chinese Exclusion Era

Ryo¹

2006

Law & Social Inquiry

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This article applies theories of legal compliance to analyze the making of this country's first “illegal immigrants”—Chinese laborers who crossed the U.S.‐Canadian and U.S.‐Mexican borders in defiance of the Chinese exclusion laws (1882–1943). Drawing upon a variety of sources, including unpublished government records, I explore the ways in which Chinese laborers gained surreptitious entry into the United States during this period and ask, what explains their mass noncompliance? I suggest that while an instrumental perspective is useful for understanding these border crossings, it overlooks other important determinants of noncompliance: normative values and opportunity structures. Specifically, the exclusion laws were widely perceived by the Chinese as lacking social and moral legitimacy, and thus not worthy of obedience. In addition, the existence of smuggling networks and liberal immigration policies in Canada and Mexico played a critical role in facilitating noncompliance. The article concludes with a discussion about the benefits and challenges of using this theoretical framework to analyze noncompliance in immigration law.

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Citizen Compliance With Public Policy: the National Maximum Speed Law

Cited by 17 publications

References 9 publications

Compliance Regimes and Barriers to Behavioral Change

Compliance Regimes and Barriers to Behavioral Change

Citizenship

Through the Back Door: Applying Theories of Legal Compliance to Illegal Immigration During the Chinese Exclusion Era

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