TY - RPRT A1 - Dušek, Libor A1 - Traxler, Christian T1 - Swiftness and Delay of Punishment T2 - Berlin School of Economics Discussion Papers N2 - This paper studies how the swiftness and delay of punishment affect behavior. Using rich administrative data from automated speed cameras, we exploit two (quasi-)experimental sources of variation in the time between a speeding offense and the sending of a ticket. At the launch of the speed camera system, administrative challenges caused delays of up to three months. Later, we implemented a protocol that randomly assigned tickets to swift or delayed processing. We identify two different results. First, delays have a negative effect on payment compliance: the rate of timely paid fines diminishes by 7 to 9% when a ticket is sent with a delay of four or more weeks. We also find some evidence that very swift tickets – sent on the first or second day following the offense – increase timely payments. These results align with the predictions of expert scholars that we elicited in a survey. Second, speeding tickets cause a strong, immediate, and persistent decline in speeding. However, we do not detect any robust, differential effects of swiftness or delay on speeding. This challenges widely held beliefs, as reflected in our survey. Yet, we document large mechanical benefits of swift punishment and provide a theoretical framework of learning and updating that explains our findings. T3 - Berlin School of Economics Discussion Papers - 32 KW - Economics Y1 - 2024 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b1570-opus4-52391 UR - https://berlinschoolofeconomics.de/insights/discussion-papers U6 - https://doi.org/10.48462/opus4-5239 ET - No. 32 ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Haan, Peter A1 - Traxler, Christian T1 - An Evaluation of Montenegro's 2022 Minimum Wage and Income Tax Reform N2 - Between 2018 and 2022, Montenegro introduced a series of significant policy reforms. The reforms affected economic, educational, and social policies, ranging from the introduction of a universal child allowance to major changes in its labour market regulations and tax rules. From an economic policy perspective, the most significant reform package was implemented in January 2022. It was composed of a huge increase in Montenegro’s statutory minimum wage, alongside a new income tax regime and the abolishment of mandatory health insurance contributions. According to the Government, the reform package aimed at increasing the living standards of citizens and promoting a more sustainable and inclusive growth model. This report evaluates the conjoint impact of this reform package. KW - Economics Y1 - 2023 UR - https://www.esap.online/docs/213/ilo-esap-2-an-evaluation-of-montenegros-2022-minimum-wage-and-income-tax-reform SN - 9789220402009 PB - International Labour Organization CY - Geneva ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Aydin, Eren A1 - Gehrsitz, Markus A1 - Traxler, Christian T1 - Greener Fleet, Cleaner Air: How Low Emission Zones Reduce Pollution N2 - Using a stacked differences-in-differences approach, we study the effects of Low Emission Zones (LEZs) in Germany. The implementation of stage 1 and 2 LEZs, which banned the most pollution-intensive vehicles from city centers, significantly reduced PM10 concentrations. The most restrictive third stage had no detectable, additional effect. Analyzing the mechanisms behind these improvements, we find weak evidence of a 2% traffic decline inside LEZs. Exploiting novel data, our main results document small but precisely estimated effects on the local fleet composition: LEZs induced the replacement of 50,000 older, emission-intensive diesel vehicles with newer, less polluting gasoline cars. Our estimates suggest that LEZs had lower social costs than previously estimated. KW - low emission zones KW - vehicle fleet composition KW - emission standards Y1 - 2024 UR - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp/17144/greener-fleet-cleaner-air-how-low-emission-zones-reduce-pollution IS - IZA DP No. 17144 PB - IZA – Institute of Labor Economics CY - Bonn ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Traxler, Christian A1 - Dušek, Libor T1 - Fines, nonpayment, and revenues: evidence from speeding tickets JF - The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization N2 - We estimate the effect of the level of fines on payment compliance and revenues collected from speeding tickets. Exploiting discontinuous increases in fines at speed cutoffs and reform-induced variation in these discontinuities, we implement two complementary regression discontinuity designs. The results consistently document small payment responses: a 10% increase in the fine (i.e., the payment obligation) induces a 1.2 percentage point decline in timely payments. The implied revenue elasticity is about 0.9. Expressed in absolute terms, a one-dollar increase in the fine translates into a roughly 60-cent increase in payments collected within 15 days (JEL H27, H26, K42). Y1 - 2025 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/jleo/ewad025 N1 - Published: 11 November 2023 VL - 41 IS - 2 SP - 381 EP - 401 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Dušek, Libor A1 - Traxler, Christian T1 - Swiftness and delay of punishment JF - The Economic Journal N2 - We study how the swiftness and delay of punishment affect behaviour in the context of speeding offences. Using rich administrative data from automated speed cameras, we exploit two quasi-experimental sources of variation in the lag between an offence and the sending of a ticket. At the launch of the speed camera system, administrative bottlenecks created delays of up to three months. Later, we implemented a protocol that randomly assigned tickets to either swift or delayed processing. We present two main results. First, delays reduce payment compliance: timely payments fall by 7 to 9% when tickets are sent with delays of four or more weeks. We also provide evidence suggesting that very swift tickets – sent on the first or second day after the offence – increase timely payments. These findings align with predictions from expert scholars elicited through a survey. Second, speeding tickets cause a strong, immediate, and persistent decline in speeding. Although swift tickets generate sizable mechanical benefits, we find no robust differential effects of swiftness or delay on subsequent speeding behaviour. This challenges widely held beliefs, as reflected in our survey. Finally, we outline a simple framework of learning and updating that explains our findings. Y1 - 2026 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/ej/ueag035 PB - Oxford University Press (OUP) ER -