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Oaths And Evasion: Variable Honesty In Tax Evasion Games, Logan Krebs
Oaths And Evasion: Variable Honesty In Tax Evasion Games, Logan Krebs
All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023
Previous research has indicated that an ex-ante pledge of honesty reduces the likelihood that participants will lie during a lab experiment. We show that a bandwagon effect, occurring when participants know that others are acting dishonestly, can erode the positive effects of honesty oaths. Taxpayers do not make their reporting decisions in a vacuum. They have access to information concerning how others in the community are behaving and develop perceptions around this information. We add these realistic features to a tax evasion game involving an ex-ante honesty oath. Results indicate that social context can reduce the positive effects of honesty …