A Behavioral Approach to Compliance: OSHA Enforcement's Impact on Workplace Accidents

This study test for effects of OSHA enforcement, using data on injuries and OSHA inspections for 6,842 manufacturing plants between 1979 and 1985. We use measures of general deterrence (expected inspections at plants like this one) and specific deterrence (actual inspections at this plant). Both measures of deterrence are found to affect accidents, with a 10% increase in inspections with penalties predicted to reduce accidents by 2%. The existence of specific deterrence effects, the importance of lagged effects, the asymmetrical effects of probability and amount of penalty on accidents, and the tendency of injury rates to self-correct over a few years support a behavioral model of the firm's response to enforcement rather than the traditional expected penalty' model of deterrence theory.

Strain buildup and release, earthquake prediction and selection of VLB sites for the margins of the North Pacific

Projects studying different aspects of crustal deformation are discussed. The rifting process at the plate boundary in northern Iceland was investigated using combined seismic, tilt, and displacement measurements. Stresses acting on the Alpine fault, New Zealand, were modeled based on observations of regional variation in metamorphism and argon loss. The relationship between the stress pattern shown by intraplate seismicity and possible stresses on plates arising from litohspheric motion over the asthenosphere was investigated. Small earthquakes in Southern California were studied to determine if subregions of uniform strain release exist and if interaction occurs between faults

Comparison of planted soil infiltration systems for treatment of log yard runoff

Treatment of log yard runoff is required to avoid contamination of receiving watercourses. The research aim was to assess if infiltration of log yard runoff through planted soil systems is successful and if different plant species affect the treatment performance at a fieldscale experimental site in Sweden (2005 to 2007). Contaminated runoff from the log yard of a sawmill was infiltrated through soil planted with Alnus glutinosa (L.) Ga¨rtner (common alder), Salix schwerinii3viminalis (willow variety ‘‘Gudrun’’), Lolium perenne (L.) (rye grass), and Phalaris arundinacea (L.) (reed canary grass). The study concluded that there were no treatment differences when comparing the four different plants with each other, and there also were no differences between the tree and the grass species. Furthermore, the infiltration treatment was effective in reducing total organic carbon (55%) and total phosphorus (45%) concentrations in the runoff, even when the loads on the infiltration system increased from year to year

Contractual Compliance and the Federal Income Tax System

The income tax system has become a critical foundation for modern democracies, providing the primary means of financing the expansion of rights and obligations. Thus, the tax system provides a critical research site for understanding not only compliance with tax obligations, but also for understanding the broader relationship between democratic citizens and their government. In this Essay, I will elaborate on the adaptive contractarian perspective and apply it to the obligation to pay personal income taxes—the financial foundation of modern governance. The goal of the forthcoming book from which this Essay is taken is to empirically test the relevance of this perspective for explaining both the main features of the tax system and citizens’ compliance with tax obligations. Additionally, we (the book’s authors) will consider the implications of this perspective for the design of tax enforcement systems and policies. We hypothesize that citizens obey tax laws to the extent that other citizens and governmental institutions meet their related obligations, and that the coercive institutions of governance, in turn, are compelled to respect citizens’ rights

Enforcement Policy and Corporate Misconduct: The Changing Perspective of Deterrence Theory

Scholz offers a comment on Stephen Calkins\u27 article entitled Corporate Compliance and the Antitrust Agencies\u27 Bi-Modal Penalties. Scholz discusses deterrence theory and how the perspective on it changes

Enforcement Policy and Corporate Misconduct: The Changing Perspective of Deterrence Theory

Scholz offers a comment on Stephen Calkins\u27 article entitled Corporate Compliance and the Antitrust Agencies\u27 Bi-Modal Penalties. Scholz discusses deterrence theory and how the perspective on it changes