Agency incentives and disparate revenue collection: Evidence from Chicago parking tickets
Abstract
We leverage a sharp 2012 parking fine increase for failing to purchase vehicle registration to examine disparate ticketing patterns across enforcement agencies in Chicago. Using an event-study framework, we find that Chicago police increased their enforcement of car registration non-compliance in Black relative to non-Black neighborhoods, with no observed disparate response from non-police enforcement agencies. This disparity is unexplained by compliance and is instead driven by departmental revenue incentives and multitasking-driven lower marginal search costs in Black neighborhoods. Disparate enforcement also exacerbated existing gaps in financial instability, generating increased rates of ticket non-payment and bankruptcy filings in Black neighborhoods.