Punishment and Deterrence: Evidence from Drunk Driving

Benjamin Hansen

American Economic Review, 2015, vol. 105, issue 4, 1581-1617

Abstract: I test the effect of harsher punishments and sanctions on driving under the influence (DUI). In this setting, punishments are determined by strict rules on blood alcohol content (BAC) and previous offenses. Regression discontinuity derived estimates suggest that having a BAC above the DUI threshold reduces recidivism by up to 2 percentage points (17 percent). Likewise having a BAC over the aggravated DUI threshold reduces recidivism by an additional percentage point (9 percent). The results suggest that the additional sanctions experienced by drunk drivers at BAC thresholds are effective in reducing repeat drunk driving. (JEL I12, K42, R41)

JEL-codes: I12 K42 R41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
Note: DOI: 10.1257/aer.20130189
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (88)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/aer.20130189 (application/pdf)
https://www.aeaweb.org/aer/data/10504/20130189_data.zip (application/zip)
https://www.aeaweb.org/aer/ds/10504/20130189_ds.zip (application/zip)
Access to full text is restricted to AEA members and institutional subscribers.

Related works:
Working Paper: Punishment and Deterrence: Evidence from Drunk Driving (2014)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aea:aecrev:v:105:y:2015:i:4:p:1581-1617

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.aeaweb.org/journals/subscriptions

Access Statistics for this article

American Economic Review is currently edited by Esther Duflo

More articles in American Economic Review from American Economic Association Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Michael P. Albert ().