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The Costs and Benefits of Ethics Laws

Public Ethics and Governance: Standards and Practices in Comparative Perspective

ISBN: 978-0-76231-226-9, eISBN: 978-1-84950-355-6

Publication date: 4 April 2006

Abstract

This chapter assesses the impact of ethics laws at the state level in the U.S., focusing on laws that apply specifically to one category of public officials: legislators. I first discuss the positive contribution of ethics laws to the functioning of democratic government. I then turn to the costs of the laws, which are often subtle and counterintuitive. The discussion of the costs of ethics laws draws on a growing body of empirical evidence, and highlights the ways that legislation can have unintended and undesirable consequences.

Citation

Rosenson, B.A. (2006), "The Costs and Benefits of Ethics Laws", Saint-Martin, D. and Thompson, F. (Ed.) Public Ethics and Governance: Standards and Practices in Comparative Perspective (Research in Public Policy Analysis and Management, Vol. 14), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 135-154. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0732-1317(05)14008-1

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2006, Emerald Group Publishing Limited