You've Got Mail: A Randomized Field Experiment on Tax Evasion

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Bott, Kristina M.; Cappelen, Alexander W.; Sorensen, Erik O.; Tungodden, Bertil
• 署名单位: Norwegian School of Economics (NHH)
• 刊物名称: MANAGEMENT SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0025-1909
• DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2019.3390
• 发表日期: 2020
• 页码: 2801-2819
• 关键词: taxation; Tax evasion; Tax morale; field experiment

摘要

We report from a large-scale randomized field experiment conducted on a unique sample of more than 15,000 taxpayers in Norway who were likely to have misreported their foreign income. By randomly manipulating a letter from the tax authorities, we cleanly identify that moral suasion and the perceived detection probability play a crucial role in shaping taxpayer behavior. The moral letter mainly works on the intensive margin, while the detection letter has a strong effect on the extensive margin. We further show that only the detection letter has long-term effects on tax compliance.