Last week Tameside Council ran this ad in our local paper – a nice example of using social norms (‘most people do this’) to encourage behaviour change.
Will it work? Well, it’s similar to the tactics used by the government to increase tax returns in 2011, which reportedly did. They sent reminders saying most people in the area had already completed their assessment, which apparently resulted in a 15% increase in completed forms. So maybe it will.
The “prosecute” rather contradicts the behavioral. Very hard for governments to get out of the habit of threatening people even though it does not work very well.
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That’s true, although I suspect there are also penalties for not submitting your tax assessment too, where the combination apparently worked. But you’re right, it is contradictory, and maybe just the behavioural side might have worked just as well.
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