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newsobserver.com | Ticket writing rises in a slump, study finds
Ticket writing rises in a slump, study finds
Steve Harrison, Charlotte Observer Comment on this story
The economy is in the toilet. So do yourself a favor and ease up on the accelerator.
That's the indirect message of a recent study by two economists, who found that when government revenues dry up, police write more speeding tickets. After analyzing 14 years of data in North Carolina, the pair found that for every 1 percent drop in government revenue, the number of traffic tickets issued per capita increases by 30 percent the following year.
"It's significant," said University of Arkansas-Little Rock economics professor Gary A. Wagner, who co-wrote Red Ink in the Rearview Mirror: Local Fiscal Conditions and the Issuance of Traffic Tickets. "If there was no revenue for issuing tickets, I wouldn't expect the unemployment rate and revenue to be related."
The study, which analyzed data from 1989 to 2003, found the fewest number of tickets issued in North Carolina was in 2000, after nearly a decade of economic growth. Roughly 645,000 tickets were written that year. The highest number of tickets came two years later, when governments were trying to recover from the post-9/11 recession, and issued roughly 768,000.
Wagner said the study reinforced an accepted theory among economists: Incentives matter.
"If local governments are somehow involved in the revenue that gets generated, there's an incentive to get more revenue," Wagner said.
For some, the idea of government relying on lead-footed drivers to balance the budget isn't new. Drivers warn one another about small-town speed traps, and it's widely assumed that tickets are being written with more than public safety in mind.
Wagner said there are numerous anecdotes nationwide of such practices, such as the mayor of Nashville, Tenn., proposing two years ago a 33 percent increase in ticket revenue in his budget.
Wagner's co-author, Thomas Garrett, is an assistant vice president at the St. Louis Federal Reserve. North Carolina was chosen as a case study simply because the state had good data.
During the study period, the state issued 11 tickets for every 100 residents. Dare County had the highest rate, at 29 per 100. Caldwell County was the lowest, at 6 per 100.
Ticket writing rises in a slump, study finds
Steve Harrison, Charlotte Observer Comment on this story
The economy is in the toilet. So do yourself a favor and ease up on the accelerator.
That's the indirect message of a recent study by two economists, who found that when government revenues dry up, police write more speeding tickets. After analyzing 14 years of data in North Carolina, the pair found that for every 1 percent drop in government revenue, the number of traffic tickets issued per capita increases by 30 percent the following year.
"It's significant," said University of Arkansas-Little Rock economics professor Gary A. Wagner, who co-wrote Red Ink in the Rearview Mirror: Local Fiscal Conditions and the Issuance of Traffic Tickets. "If there was no revenue for issuing tickets, I wouldn't expect the unemployment rate and revenue to be related."
The study, which analyzed data from 1989 to 2003, found the fewest number of tickets issued in North Carolina was in 2000, after nearly a decade of economic growth. Roughly 645,000 tickets were written that year. The highest number of tickets came two years later, when governments were trying to recover from the post-9/11 recession, and issued roughly 768,000.
Wagner said the study reinforced an accepted theory among economists: Incentives matter.
"If local governments are somehow involved in the revenue that gets generated, there's an incentive to get more revenue," Wagner said.
For some, the idea of government relying on lead-footed drivers to balance the budget isn't new. Drivers warn one another about small-town speed traps, and it's widely assumed that tickets are being written with more than public safety in mind.
Wagner said there are numerous anecdotes nationwide of such practices, such as the mayor of Nashville, Tenn., proposing two years ago a 33 percent increase in ticket revenue in his budget.
Wagner's co-author, Thomas Garrett, is an assistant vice president at the St. Louis Federal Reserve. North Carolina was chosen as a case study simply because the state had good data.
During the study period, the state issued 11 tickets for every 100 residents. Dare County had the highest rate, at 29 per 100. Caldwell County was the lowest, at 6 per 100.
