|
on Nudge and Boosting |
|
Issue of 2024‒07‒15
three papers chosen by |
| By: | Fuhrmann-Riebel, Hanna (University of East Anglia); D'Exelle, Ben (University of East Anglia); López Vargas, Kristian (University of California, Santa Cruz); Tonke, Sebastian (Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods); Verschoor, Arjan (University of East Anglia) |
| Abstract: | Tackling environmental pollution requires a permanent change in regular, repeated behavior of households. Bringing about change in such behavior may require interventions that are not limited to a single point in time, yet little evidence exists on how frequently we need to target households to initiate behavioral change and to form new habits in regular pro-environmental behavior. To fill this gap, we investigate the impact of mobile text reminders on households' recycling behavior in urban Peru, by randomly varying the frequency of reminders over a nine-week treatment period. We find that reminders increase both the likelihood that households start to recycle, and the frequency of recycling among households that already recycled before the intervention. The effects are stronger if reminders are repeated over a longer period. Our findings suggest that low-cost mobile text reminders can support repeated pro-environmental behavior, and that some repetition may be needed to maximize their effectiveness. |
| Keywords: | recycling, habit formation, limited attention, reminders, Peru |
| JEL: | C93 D83 D90 D91 Q53 Q58 |
| Date: | 2024–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17013&r= |
| By: | Motta Café, Renata; Yarygina, Anastasiya; Escalante, Lisseth |
| Abstract: | A large body of research has estimated the effects on tax collection of informing taxpayers of their obligations. This paper examines the effects on voluntary tax payments of providing taxpayers with information on their obligations that is collected through massive information cross-checking rather than traditional auditing. This information is inexpensive to collect, but may not be sufficiently accurate to promote taxpayer compliance. We conducted a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of self-regularization interventions on tax compliance among simplified tax regime firms. We examine the treatments that use this information in three different ways: messaging, providing tax compliance manuals, and assisted regularization, in which tax auditors assist taxpayers in the self-regularization process. We find that assisted regularization increased the reported monthly income by 20 percent (US$1, 160), which also nearly closed the tax evasion gap and reduced inconsistencies in tax declarations by 67 percent (37-point reduction). The manual and message interventions had positive, albeit smaller, effects. While the assisted regularization intervention had the largest effects, a cost-effectiveness analysis reveals that this intervention is not optimal for smaller firms because of the costs incurred by the tax authority. No effects were observed on firms' tax compliance in declarations filed in the post- intervention periods. |
| Keywords: | public finance;State capacity;Tax evasion;electronic tax audit;tax self-regularization;Simples Nacional |
| JEL: | H26 H32 H71 H83 |
| Date: | 2024–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:13603&r= |
| By: | Mate Paksy (ICL - Institut Catholique de Lille - UCL - Université catholique de Lille, ETHICS EA 7446 - Experience ; Technology & Human Interactions ; Care & Society : - ICL - Institut Catholique de Lille - UCL - Université catholique de Lille) |
| Abstract: | My study aims to highlight a number of the criticisms of nudging in relation to various elucidations of law, in particular positivist concepts as well as law as practical reasoning. It attempts to demonstrate that nudging is about imposing a direct impact on human behaviour, at least insofar as this sort of regulation instantly triggers a cause in ordinary human behaviour by systematically taking advantage of our mistakes. Not only nudging, but also normative and realist legal positivism affirm this method of causal and direct regulation. Ubi societas, ibi ius—law, on the other hand, as practical reasoning, consists solely of influencing the human crowd through persuasion. I have no doubt that certain incentives that function as rhetorical devices are of course welcome in the empire of law. On the whole, however, the autonomy of ordinary, imperfect, and reasonable people calls for social life to be regulated by legal influence and persuasion. This technique allows for better and fairer regulation than nudging. Of course, nudging is right to reject legal positivism, but it remains inferior to the concept of law as practical reasoning. |
| Keywords: | nudge, practical reasoning |
| Date: | 2023–12–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04569584&r= |