How Laws Affect the Perception of Norms: Empirical Evidence from the Lockdown

Roberto Galbiati, Emeric Henry, Nicolas Jacquemet () and Max Lobeck ()
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Max Lobeck: PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

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Abstract: Laws not only affect behavior due to changes in material payoffs, but they may also change the perception individuals have of social norms, either by shifting them directly or by providing information on these norms. Using detailed daily survey data and exploiting the introduction of lockdown measures in the UK in the context of the COVID-19 health crisis, we provide causal evidence that the law drastically changed the perception of the norms regarding social distancing behaviors. We show that this effect of laws on perceived norms is mostly driven by an informational channel and that the intervention made perceptions of social norms converge to the actual prevalent norm.

Keywords: laws; norms; expressive function; misperception; COVID-19 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021-09
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-03380479v1
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Published in PLoS ONE, 2021, ⟨10.1371/journal.pone.0256624⟩

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Related works:
Journal Article: How laws affect the perception of norms: Empirical evidence from the lockdown (2021)
Working Paper: How Laws Affect the Perception of Norms: Empirical Evidence from the Lockdown (2021)
Working Paper: How Laws Affect the Perception of Norms: Empirical Evidence from the Lockdown (2021)
Working Paper: How Laws Affect the Perception of Norms: Empirical Evidence from the Lockdown (2021)
Working Paper: How Laws Affect the Perception of Norms: Empirical Evidence from the Lockdown (2020)
Working Paper: How laws affect the perception of norms: empirical evidence from the lockdown (2020)
Working Paper: How laws affect the perception of norms: empirical evidence from the lockdown (2020)
Working Paper: How laws affect the perception of norms: empirical evidence from the lockdown (2020)
Working Paper: How laws affect the perception of norms: empirical evidence from the lockdown (2020)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:pseptp:hal-03380479

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0256624

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