From Chasing Violations to Managing Risks: Origins, Challenges and Evolutions in Regulatory Inspections

Government rules and inspectors can be an important tool to ensure trust in markets, and to protect citizens against hazards. There is, however, a perception that businesses and individuals only comply with rules because of the threat of punishment. From Chasing Violations to Managing Risks examines what actually makes people change their behaviour and how to effectively achieve the objectives of regulations.

Building on decades of research, Florentin Blanc examines the development of inspection institutions and their practices, and assesses their varying effectiveness, and the reasons behind this. Bringing together historical, theoretical, and practical perspectives, Blanc provides ‘large scale’ testing of models through comparative case studies considering practices and their outcomes. By examining case studies, Blanc also assesses how inspection institutions might accomplish better results with less bureaucracy, comparing in particular occupational safety across France, Germany and Great Britain, identifying the key differences between the three, and asking how Britain has achieved a better safety record with fewer inspections (but more efforts to manage risks through other instruments).

This book will be invaluable for practitioners of regulatory reform and public administration, as well as for students and researchers of these topics who will benefit from the unique synthesis of historical, theoretical and practical perspectives on the subject.