Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-hfldf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-17T03:13:40.565Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Bringing tax avoiders to light: moral framing and shaming in a public goods experiment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 March 2021

Stefanos A. Tsikas Open the ORCID record for Stefanos A. Tsikas [Opens in a new window]
Stefanos A. Tsikas*
Affiliation:
Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany
*
E-mail: tsikas.stefanos@mh-hannover.de
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

With a linear public goods game played in six different variants, this article studies two channels that might moderate social dilemmas and increase cooperation without using pecuniary incentives: moral framing and shaming. We find that cooperation is increased when noncontributing to a public good is framed as morally debatable and socially harmful tax avoidance, while the mere description of a tax context has no effect. However, without social sanctions in place, cooperation quickly deteriorates due to social contagion. We find ‘shaming’ free-riders by disclosing their misdemeanor to act as a strong social sanction, irrespective of the context in which it is applied. Moralizing tax avoidance significantly reinforces shaming, compared with a simple tax context.

Keywords

E62H26H30shamingframingtax avoidancesocial contagionpublic goods game
Type
Article
Information
Behavioural Public Policy , Volume 7 , Issue 3 , July 2023 , pp. 557 - 580
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alm, J., McClelland, G. H. and Schulze, W. D. (1992), ‘Why do people pay taxes?’ Journal of Public Economics, 48: 21–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alm, J., Bernasconi, M., Laury, S., Lee, D. J. and Wallace, S. (2017), ‘Culture, compliance, and confidentiality: Taxpayer behavior in the United States and Italy’, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 140: 176–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andreoni, J. and Bernheim, D. (2009), ‘Social image and the 50-50 norm: A theoretical and experimental analysis of audience effects’, Econometrica, 77: 1607–36.Google Scholar
Andreoni, J. and Petrie, R. (2004), ‘Public goods experiments without confidentiality: A glimpse into fund-raising’, Journal of Public Economics, 88: 1605–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baldry, J. R. (1986), ‘Tax evasion is not a gamble: A report on two experiments’, Economics Letters, 22: 333–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blaufus, K., Hundsdoerfer, J., Jacob, M. and Suenwoldt, M. (2016), ‘Does legality matter? The case of tax avoidance and evasion’, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 127: 182–206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blaufus, K., Bob, J., Otto, P. E. and Wolf, N. (2017), ‘The effect of tax privacy on tax compliance – An experimental investigation’, European Accounting Review, 64: 1–20.Google Scholar
Blumenthal, M., Christian, C. and Slemrod, J. (2001), ‘Do normative appeals affect tax compliance? Evidence from a controlled experiment in Minnesota’, National Tax Journal, 54: 125–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bø, E. E., Slemrod, J. and Thoresen, T. O. (2016), ‘Taxes on the internet: Deterrence effects of public disclosure’, American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 7: 36–62.Google Scholar
Bochet, O., Page, T. and Putterman, L. (2006), ‘Communication and punishment in voluntary contribution experiments’, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 60: 11–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bock, O., Baetge, I. and Nicklisch, A. (2014), ‘hroot: Hamburg registration and organization online tool’, European Economic Review, 71: 117–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bott, K. M., Cappelen, A. W., Sörensen, E. and Tungodden, B. (2017), ‘You've got mail: A randomised field experiment on tax evasion’, Discussion Paper SAM 10 2017. Bergen: Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Economics.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Casal, S. and Mittone, L. (2016), ‘Social esteem versus social stigma: The role of anonymity in an income reporting game’, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 124: 55–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coricelli, G., Joffily, M., Montmarquette, C. and Villeval, M. (2010), ‘Cheating, emotions, and rationality: An experiment on tax evasion’, Experimental Economics, 13: 226–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dal Bó, E. and Dal Bó, P. (2014), ‘“Do the right thing”: The effects of moral suasion on cooperation’, Journal of Public Economics, 117: 28–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dellavigna, S., List, J. A. and Malmendier, U. (2012), ‘Testing for altruism and social pressure in charitable giving’, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 127: 1–56.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dimant, E. (2015), ‘On Peer Effects: Behavioral Contagion of (Un)ethical Behavior and the Role of Social Identity’, MPRA Paper No. 68732.Google Scholar
Durham, Y., Manly, T. S. and Ritesma, C. (2014), ‘The effect of income source, context, and income level on tax compliance decisions in a dynamic experiment’, Journal of Economic Psychology, 40: 220–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dwenger, N. and Treber, L. (2018), ‘Shaming for tax enforcement: Evidence from a new policy’, Hohenheim Discussion Papers in Business, Economics and Social Sciences No. 21.Google Scholar
Dwenger, N., Kleven, H., Rasaul, I. and Rincke, J. (2016), ‘Extrinsic and intrinsic motivations for tax compliance: Evidence from a field experiment in Germany, American Economic Journal, Economic Policy, 8: 203–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fellner, G., Sausgruber, R. and Traxler, C. (2013), ‘Testing enforcement strategies in the field: Threat, moral appeal and social information’, Journal of the European Economic Association, 11: 634–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fischbacher, U. (2007), ‘Z-tree: Zurich toolbox for ready-made economic experiments’, Experimental Economics, 10: 171–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fortin, B., Lacroix, G. and Villeval, M. (2007), ‘Tax evasion and social interactions’, Journal of Public Economics, 91: 2089–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gino, F., Ayal, S. and Ariely, D. (2009), ‘Contagion and differentiation in unethical behavior’, Psychological Science, 20: 393–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hallsworth, M., List, J. A., Metcalfe, R. D. and Vlaev, I. (2017), ‘The behavioralist as tax collector: Using natural field experiments to enhance tax compliance’, Journal of Public Economics, 148: 14–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kimbrough, E. O. and Vostroknutov, A. (2016), ‘Norms make preferences social’, Journal of the European Economic Association, 14: 608–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lazear, E. P., Malmendier, U. and Weber, R. A. (2012), ‘Sorting in experiments with application to social preferences’, American Economic Journal: Applied Econometrics, 4: 136–63.Google Scholar
Luttmer, E. F. P. and Singhal, M. (2014), ‘Tax morale’, Journal of Economic Perspectives, 28: 149–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meiselman, B. S. (2018), ‘Ghostbusting in Detroit: Evidence on nonfilers from a controlled field experiment’, Journal of Public Economics, 158: 180–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Noussair, C. and Tucker, S. (2007), ‘Public observability of decisions and voluntary contributions in a multiperiod context’, Public Finance Review, 35: 176–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Perez-Truglia, R. and Troiano, U. (2015), ‘Shaming tax delinquents: Theory and evidence from a field experiment in the United States’, NBER Working Paper No. w21264. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rege, M. and Telle, K. (2004), ‘The impact of social approval and framing on cooperation in public good situations’, Journal of Public Economics, 88: 1625–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Samek, A. S. and Sheremeta, R. M. (2014), ‘Recognizing contributors: An experiment on public goods’, Experimental Economics, 17: 673–90.Google Scholar
Tyran, J. R. and Feld, L. P. (2006), ‘Achieving compliance when legal sanctions are non-deterrent’, The Scandinavian Journal of Economics, 108: 135–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, Y., Wang, G., Chen, Q. and Li, L. (2017), ‘Depletion, moral identity, and unethical behavior: Why people behave unethically after self-control exertion’, Consciousness and Cognition, 56: 188–98.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wartick, M. L., Madeo, S. A. and Vines, C. C. (1999), ‘Reward dominance in tax-reporting experiments: The role of context’, Journal of the American Taxation Association, 21: 20–3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Tsikas supplementary material

Tsikas supplementary material

Download Tsikas supplementary material(File)
File 616.3 KB