The Political Economy of Rule Evasion and Policy Reform / Edition 1

develops the logic underlying the connections between breaking the rules and making the rules. Approaching policy issues from the point of view of rule circumvention provides a perspective that illuminates a wide variety of phenomena: * implicit tolerance of extensive illegal behaviour, treadmills of reform, delays of major policy changes * the complexity of rules * potential for perverse outcomes from policy reforms * corruption of enforcers * trade-offs between a rule-based and a discretionary policy. This ground-breaking new book is written in a clear readable style and is replete with a wide variety of examples, including case studies on zero tolerance policies, the demise of the Soviet Union, and the ongoing transformation of firearm regulations in Britain and the US.