Increasing Public Debt Collection with Nudging

Authors

  • Niels Holm Jensen Department of Psychology, Aarhus University, Denmark
  • Lisbeth Fyhn Reuss Citizen Service, Municipality of Aarhus, Denmark
  • Stephan Rasmussen Citizen Service, Municipality of Aarhus, Denmark

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.58235/sjpa.v22i4.8701

Keywords:

nudging, debt collection, deterrence, tax compliance, natural field experiment

Abstract

Using two natural field experiments, we tested whether nudging could contribute as a cost-free instrument to increase voluntary public debt collection. We manipulated standard reminder notices sent to two samples (N = 396 and N = 549) with public debt in a municipality in Denmark, a country with a high tax morale. Results from both studies showed that initial debt payment rates were significantly higher in intervention groups receiving a simplified, kind, and attractive reminder notice as compared to a control groups receiving a standard and complex reminder notice. The results suggest that nudging may contribute to public debt collection in countries with a high tax morale.

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Author Biographies

Niels Holm Jensen, Department of Psychology, Aarhus University, Denmark

Niels Holm Jensen, PhD, is a psychologist and works as a private consultant and external lecturer at the Department of Psychology, Aarhus University. His research areas cover behaviour change, nudging, evolutionary psychology, and social psychology.

Lisbeth Fyhn Reuss, Citizen Service, Municipality of Aarhus, Denmark

Lisbeth Fyhn Reuss is a business specialist at Citizen Service, Municipality of Aarhus. She specializes in municipal debt recovery.

Stephan Rasmussen, Citizen Service, Municipality of Aarhus, Denmark

Stephan Rasmussen is a business specialist at Citizen Service, Municipality of Aarhus. He specializes in conducting usability studies and municipal debt recovery.

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Published

2018-12-15

How to Cite

Holm Jensen, N., Fyhn Reuss, L., & Rasmussen, S. (2018). Increasing Public Debt Collection with Nudging. Scandinavian Journal of Public Administration, 22(4), 45–64. https://doi.org/10.58235/sjpa.v22i4.8701

Issue

Vol. 22 No. 4 (2018)

Section

Original Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2018 Niels Holm Jensen, Lisbeth Fyhn Reuss, Stephan Rasmussen

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Authors contributing to Scandinavian Journal of Public Administration agree to publish their articles under a Creative Commons CC BY-NC 4.0 license. This means means articles are free for anybody to read and download, and to copy and disseminate for non-commercial purposes as long as appropriate credit is given, a link is provided to the license, and any changes made are clearly indicated. Authors retain copyright of their work.