The Politics of Parking Tickets

Forget Inauguration Day, what about the politics of… parking tickets? 

This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.

An unusual 2007 study, by Columbia University and UC Berkeley, looked at foreign diplomats’ parking fines in New York. 

In just five years, United Nations diplomats racked up a staggering 150,000 unpaid parking tickets worth $18 billion.

The worst offenders came from countries with either widespread corruption like Nigeria, or those not fond of American international policies, like Kuwait, Egypt, and Pakistan.  We’re not arguing, just reporting.

By contrast, out of 146 UN countries examined, 22 had no unpaid parking tickets.  No surprise?  Do-gooders Canada, Japan, Norway, and Britain basically agreed with US foreign policy, at least on the surface.

Unsavory study?  Let’s not even start on Republican versus Democrat key scratching!


Reference:
Fisman, Raymond, and Edward Miguel. 2007. “Corruption, Norms and Legal Enforcement: Evidence from Diplomatic Parking Tickets.” Journal of Political Economy 115 (6): 1020-1048.