The Effect of Mandatory Seat Belt Laws on Seat Belt Use by Socioeconomic Position

We investigated the differential effect of mandatory seat belt laws on seat belt use among socioeconomic subgroups. We identified the differential effect of legislation across higher versus lower education individuals using a difference‐in‐differences model based on state variations in the timing of the passage of laws. We find strong effects of mandatory seat belt laws for all education groups, but the effect is stronger for those with fewer years of education. In addition, we find that the differential effect by education is larger for mandatory seat belt laws with primary rather than secondary enforcement. Our results imply that existing socioeconomic differences in seat belt use would be further mitigated if all states upgraded to primary enforcement.     

Use of the case method to examine ex parte contacts: How much politics should there be in administrative rulemaking?

This article argues that the legal case approach is conceptually superior, more rigorous, and has greater pedagogical value than either the concept-case or traditional textbook approaches. It is superior in that it provides a politics-administration dispute within the closed institutional setting of the rulemaking process which produces policy according to rules consistent with the Administrative Procedure Act and court holdings.