Social norms or enforcement? A natural field experiment to improve traffic and parking fine compliance

Abstract

Any opinions expressed in this paper are those of the author(s) and not those of IZA. Research published in this series may include views on policy, but IZA takes no institutional policy positions. The IZA research network is committed to the IZA Guiding Principles of Research Integrity. The IZA Institute of Labor Economics is an independent economic research institute that conducts research in labor economics and offers evidence-based policy advice on labor market issues. Supported by the Deutsche Post Foundation, IZA runs the world's largest network of economists, whose research aims to provide answers to the global labor market challenges of our time. Our key objective is to build bridges between academic research, policymakers and society. IZA Discussion Papers often represent preliminary work and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be available directly from the author.

Salience and Timely Compliance: Evidence from Speeding Tickets

“…The latter observation also contributes to the emerging research evaluating nudges in fine enforcement. Haynes et al (2013) and Sinning and Zhang (2021), who focus on selected samples of individuals with unpaid fines, both document positive effects of deterrent text messages or letters. A closely related paper examines the effect of reminder letters on the payment of parking tickets: Heffetz, O'Donoghue, and Schneider (2022) find larger short-term but no long-term effects on payment compliance.…”