Why should I comply with taxes if others don’t?: Social information and behavioral convergence: An experimental study

Nathalie Etchart-Vincent (), Marisa Ratto and Emmanuelle Taugourdeau ()
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Nathalie Etchart-Vincent: CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne
Marisa Ratto: Université Paris Dauphine-PSL - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres, LEDa - Laboratoire d'Economie de Dauphine - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - Université Paris Dauphine-PSL - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Emmanuelle Taugourdeau: CREST - Centre de Recherche en Économie et Statistique - ENSAI - Ecole Nationale de la Statistique et de l'Analyse de l'Information [Bruz] - GENES - Groupe des Écoles Nationales d'Économie et Statistique - X - École polytechnique - IP Paris - Institut Polytechnique de Paris - ENSAE Paris - École Nationale de la Statistique et de l'Administration Économique - GENES - Groupe des Écoles Nationales d'Économie et Statistique - IP Paris - Institut Polytechnique de Paris - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, IP Paris - Institut Polytechnique de Paris

Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) from HAL

Abstract: This experimental study investigates the impact of social information about others' tax behavior on individuals' subsequent tax decisions. Two types of social information are introduced: (i) the average income reported within the subject's entire group, and (ii) the average income reported within a reference subgroup made of either peers or non-peers and chosen by the subject. Our results show that social information significantly affects subsequent tax decisions, with a change in reported income ranging from 15% to 30% of total income on average. Moreover, the influence of whole-group information on tax behavior appears to be stronger than that of chosen-group information. Quite strikingly, a majority of subjects show more interest in the tax behavior of non-peers than in that of peers. Finally, our data provide strong evidence of behavioral convergence towards the average tax behavior of others.

Keywords: Tax compliance; Social information; Behavioral convergence; Tax morale; Artefactual field experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-01
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Published in Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 2026, 120, pp.102497. ⟨10.1016/j.socec.2025.102497⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:cesptp:hal-05421090

DOI: 10.1016/j.socec.2025.102497

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