Date of Award
8-2019
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Economics
Committee Member
Andrew Hanssen, Committee Chair
Committee Member
Thomas Hazlett
Committee Member
Robert Fleck
Committee Member
Michael Makowsky
Abstract
In the United States, individual states pass a variety of rules and regulations in order to create and enforce laws. My dissertation examines several key portions of this process, by focusing on regulations impacting the auto insurance industry. I construct three essays which examine strategies for passing such a regulation in state legislatures, factors affecting which states implement the regulation and at what time, and the effectiveness of the law itself. First, I evaluate the effect of state laws establishing electronically accessible statewide databases of insured drivers on uninsured driving and precaution. I find that the laws themselves do not cause a significant change in the rate of uninsured motorists. However, there is a consistent, but not statistically significant, decrease in the number of crashes and fatalities that occur after the law is implemented. This indicates that any effect the law has in encouraging drivers to obtain insurance is outweighed by those drivers who remain uninsured but drive more carefully in order to avoid detection and the resulting penalties. Second, I examine the market conditions associated with states' implementation of these laws. I find that states with lower rates of uninsured driving are more likely to implement an insurance database law. In addition, states with higher levels of market concentration are less likely to implement the law. There is also some support for a diffusion theory where states are more likely to implement laws their neighboring states have passed. Last, I evaluate the use of sunset provisions as a legislative bargaining tool that could assist in gaining the majority needed to pass similar laws in additional states. I predict that, under conditions where it is preferable to limit a law's durability rather than changing the content of the law, sunset provisions will be used more frequently when the makeup of the legislative body is more volatile, or when the majority is slim.
Recommended Citation
Ernest, Jonathan Orry, "Essays on the Creation, Passage, and Effectiveness of Laws and Regulations" (2019). All Dissertations. 2477.
https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_dissertations/2477