Structural Bias in Regulatory Law Enforcement: The Case of the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency

In this paper I demonstrate the utility and importance of merging two distinct yet related lines of inquiry that have been pursued in connection with illegal business activity. One tradition has sought to isolate the organizational and/or financial characteristics that may lead to such behavior on the part of firms. The other has investigated the political economic relations that influence legislation and enforcement efforts directed at business behavior. Using data on the Environmental Protection Agency's enforcement of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, I analyze a structural model that links firm and regulatory characteristics to determine whether systematic biases operate in regulatory law enforcement. The results suggest that ostensibly neutral legal structures necessarily tend to favor more powerful businesses and to burden smaller companies disproportionately. Smaller firms appear more frequently on official lists of violators, indicating that regulatory law reflects and reproduces systemic inequalities.