In the framework of the 3E seminar series on the topic of Experiments, Ethics and Economics, Prof. Daniele Nosenzo held the lecture “Equal before the (expressive power of) law?” (joint work with Luise Goerges, Tom Lane and Silvia Sonderegger) on 23 March 2022.
Prof. Nosenzo presented an incentivized vignette experiment to study whether the “expressive power of law”, i.e. the power of law to exert a causal effect on social norms, differs by gender or race. The experiment directly measured social norms relating to actions subject to legal thresholds (e.g., driving above/below speed limit; possession of marijuana above/below legal limit; etc.) and varied the gender and race of the person engaging in the action or of the person affected by the action. Results from an online sample of around 4000 subjects confirmed that laws causally influence social norms. However, the authors found little evidence of a differential effect of the law on norms across gender or race, suggesting that gender and race biases in the legal system are driven by other mechanisms than differences in the expressive power of law.
More information about Prof. Nosenzo’s research can be found on his webpage.